Willow Smith Is Working With Avril Lavigne
Music

Willow Smith Is Working With Avril Lavigne

It's an under-discussed piece of Smith family lore that Jada once performed in a metal band called Wicked Wisdom. And her daughter Willow recently gave us a history lesson by surprising her mom with a band reunion for mother's day, in which she was the singer. Turns out, Willow's new music era has a distinct rock goddess edge — and as she tells W in a new interview published today, there's plenty more to come.

"I never thought I could do rock music, because I was trained since I was eight to sing R&B," Willow told the magazine as part of its annual music issue. "Then I was just like, You know what? Eff it."

Eff it indeed. Willow is jumping into the moshpit that is 2021's burgeoning Gen-Z pop punk revival, but she also said that she's consulting with the millennials first: Blink-182's Travis Barker, plus one Avril Lavigne.

"I needed to get that pop-punk cosign," she explained. And working with Lavigne in particular was a dream come true: "I wanted that 2007 Avril angst. When I heard what she did with what I sent her, I felt like I was transported back to my tween days, in the car, just screaming, 'I don't have to try to make you realize!' It was beyond any joy that I could have imagined."

Okay, we literally could not be more excited? There's no word yet on when the album drops, but we'll be there when it does. The first single, "Transparant Soul," features Barker and is already going viral on YouTube.

Watch the music video, below. And a little bit of extra goss: we recently heard that a new pop-punk Avril album is in the works, too.

Photo via Willow Smith