Willow Smith has big feelings about her music career and the perception that she's a nepo baby riding the coattails of her Oscar- and Daytime Emmy-winning parents.
The 23-year-old singer, whose parents are “King Richard” star Will Smith and “Red Table Talk” host Jada Pinkett Smith, revealed in a recent interview that the label “nepo baby,” used to describe children of famous people who follow similar careers, continues to motivate her to create her own path with music.
“I definitely think a little bit of insecurity has made me stronger because people think the only reason I'm successful is because of my parents,” she told Allure in a cover story published Thursday.
And he added: “That has led me to work very hard to try to prove them wrong. But nowadays, I don't need to prove it to anyone.'”
The message “Wait a minute!” and the “Meet Me at Our Spot” musician, who performs under the moniker Willow, spoke to the magazine about the evolution of her look and music ahead of the release of her new album. “Empathogen” was released on Friday, 14 years after Willow broke into music with her hit “Whip My Hair.”
The 2010 pop song further pushed Willow, then 9, into a world of celebrities and publicity. Years later, Willow experienced a period of negativity and doubt, some rooted in her high-profile family, she told the magazine.
After sharing how she came to terms with her hang-ups and “negativity from the outside,” Willow said she has several reasons why she doesn't feel like the typical “nepo baby.” She believes that she “would still be a weird, crazy thinker” if her parents weren't celebrities.
Willow added that despite her parents' fame, she still faces obstacles and barriers in the creative space.
“Being black in America, even with privileges, which I will never deny that I have, you are still black,” he said.
Since “Whip My Hair”, several of Willow's other hits, including “Emo Girl” and “Meet Me at Our Spot”, have entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart. She has also received several MTV Video Music Awards nominations. Earlier this week, Willow appeared on NPR's “Tiny Desk Concert” series, delivering a funky, stripped-down performance of the “symptom of life” songs, Wait a Minute! and “big feelings.”
Whether critics and fans consider her a nepo baby, Willow told Allure that she wants to “be a servant of love even if it means fighting for things to change so that love can flourish more in the world.”
And he added: “I want it to change the way [people] They think and I want that to make them love themselves more.”
