Back in 2015, Willow Smith made her debut as a musician with her Ardipithecus LP and has since been recruited by Kid Cudi and Jessie Boykins III to appear on their most recent projects, nabbed spots on the line-ups for Roots Picnic, Afropunk and TIDAL X Chairt Concert, begun to form a rock band with brother Jaden, and is now set to tour with Jhene Aiko.
Today, on her 17th birthday, she’s shared her sophomore album The 1st. She took to Twitter to describe the 11-track project as an “emotional regurgitation from the depths of a burgeoning woman.”
She told Rolling Stone about the album:
“It’s the first time I’ve put myself in these musical situations that I’ve never experienced and also these human social situations I’ve never experienced. Relating to people, in a way that’s what not we’re taught. We’re taught that love, when you’re younger, is caring for somebody and wanting their presence around you. As you start growing up, you’re like, ‘Dang, that person can possess you.’ Me doing this album was me realizing my own craving for other people or certain reactions … I realized that freedom is love. Real love is giving someone 100 percent freedom. ‘The 1st’ is me realizing not what love truly is, but getting closer to that [realization].”