WILLOW on Her Most Lyrically Confessional Album to Date, 'COPINGMECHANISM'
“Art is the way to show people that we want change,” she says about her new record.
WILLOW AKA Willow Smith has released her fifth studio album, <Copingmechanism> — a rock project, which may be considered her most personal work so far.
The LP is made up of 11 tracks, with one feature — Yves Tumor on “Perfectly Not Close.” For WILLOW, it was important to be honest and accepting about whatever she’s feeling on this record. During a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, WILLOW said <Copingmechanism> “is not a depressing record” despite what others may think.
However, it does highlight several emotions many consider to be negative, which the singer-slash-songwriter feels strongly against. “I don’t think sadness needs to be depressing,” she added. “I think sadness is an expression of ourselves in such a beautiful way. We push it away so much, and I don’t feel like we should. We should honor our sadness and we should honor our anger and we should honor our discomfort, because it’s a part of us too.”
Ultimately, WILLOW’s intention with the new album is to use her voice to help create a positive shift in society.
“I think there’s so much happening in the world right now in rock,” she explained. “The soul of rock is this cry for change, and I feel like rap and rock kind of have that same foundation of like, ‘Some bad things are happening and we are mad about it, and we want to express this and we need you to know how we feel.’ “There’s so much trauma just in everyday life for us now. Like, we turn on our phones and we see what’s happening in Iran, we see what’s happening with climate change, we see what’s happening with so many Black men and women being killed against their wills. All of this crazy stuff is going on, and we’re just angry and we want change. And I feel like art is the way to show people that we want change.”
She continued, “And so, I feel like it’s less about the genre, and more about that intent and that underlying feeling that the youth is having right now. The world is not doing too good right now … but we’re seeing it so clearly, and that angers us and makes us feel like we need to speak up. And I’m trying to scream and I’m trying to shred on the guitar, to let everyone know we’re serious about this.”
Listen to <Copingmechanism> below and watch her new music video for “ur a <stranger>” above.
