Willow manages to push her limits as an artist once again with an analog twist. “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l”, her newest single with the percussive powerhouse Travis Barker (Blink 198).

Willow has always been an absolutely fascinating artist. Of course, many originally knew her as Will Smith’s daughter, and she rose to infamy with her song “I Whip My Hair”. The song was playing everywhere, to incredibly mixed review. Many critics agreed with one thing – this didn’t seem like something she had willingly made. Years went by, and suddenly I was shown “Female Energy, part 2”, a song off her self-titled album. I couldn’t believe my ears, but what Willow made with that record had been done so rarely before – she had completely changed her style, her message, her energy. This felt genuine, and it showed in the record. Fast forward to now, and Willow has decided to plug in the electric guitar, and get the help of pop-punk legend Travis Barker for her newest record.

“T r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” is, at its heart, a pop-punk song. The upbeat, fast-paced rhythm, the mix of clean-and distorted guitars, the catchy choruses and harmonies. All the elements are there, yet there’s something distinctly different about this song, something that can’t quite be explained. It’s the kind of tone Willow has been bringing into the realm of music for years now; her own raw talent. It’s a bit rough-around-the-edges with the production and the delivery. The lack of clear tuning, the minimalist processing done on all the tracks, all of which add to the tone of the song beautifully. Travis’ style also brings so much life to the song, it’s clear that he had a huge impact on the quality of the song, but still Willow proves herself once again as a pristine musician, lyricist and songwriter with this newest single.

I would say that this was unexpected from Willow, but at this point the unexpected is expected when it comes to her new music. This is a wonderful debut into a new style, one that I can’t wait to see fully developed in her upcoming album, “Lately I Feel Everything”.

Author: Nicholas Gaudet

Music producer and writer from Dieppe, Canada.