Willow Smith is ready to enter her next chapter. Ylli covers the November issue of digestiondiscussing her pop star past as a 9-year-old hitmaker with her neoclassical single “Whip My Hair” – a chapter of her life she describes as very dark and confusing despite the brilliance of gum on the surface. – until now, an artist in complete control of her narrative.
In the article, photographed by Munachi Osegbu, the Red Table Talk star discusses coming into her own, even if it means being perceived as a stereotypical “angry black woman” as she expresses some of her messier emotions.
“If you look at history and look at what the black woman has to endure, what other emotion will we have?” Smith asks. “We should not be afraid of that stereotype. We should be like, ‘Okay, yeah, and let me tell you why.’ There are 15 million reasons. I’m not just angry about anything. I’m not just angry because nothing ever happens. I’m angry because there are hundreds and hundreds of years of abuse, violations, and truly unjust violence. Even our people turn against us. This hurts too. I think we need to come together and be more compassionate to each other, to black women as well.”
The singer is releasing a lot of that anger and frustration on her newest album.
“I hate to be messy, but to heal something, you have to let it out.”
While she won’t get into naming names or the nitty-gritty details, she says the project was instrumental in her healing and journey to self-love and acceptance.
“Cleaning up who you used to be,” she says of the project’s message. “You cocoon, then emerge as a butterfly. This sounds so cliche, but I really have no other way to say it. A caterpillar turning into a butterfly is primal…it’s natural…but it’s also magical. It can be both at the same time. It can be messy. It can be uncomfortable. It can be scary. But it can also be beautiful, fantastic and magical. It can be very earthly and also very spiritual, also very cosmic. I like to accept those dualities. With my songwriting, it’s just an expression of who I am. When you learn to love who you are, everything is spiritual.”
Part of that spiritual journey has led Smith to embrace sobriety in the meantime. While she’s never opened up about any alcohol or hard drug use, the singer detailed her transition from marijuana during the pandemic and seems to have stayed on that journey by delving into herself and her art.
“My problem is extremes,” she said digestion. “Once I start smoking, I’m smoking every day. I wish I could do it randomly. Not doing it at all is easy and doing it every day is easy, but the middle is not easy for me. It’s so weird. So I’m trying to figure out this middle ground. If I can’t figure out this middle ground, I think it’s better if I stay sober.”
Read the full Willow Smith cover story HERE. Check out some of the photos from her November SPIN issue shared below:
