Willow says “it’s an honor” to be going on tour with Childish Gambino

Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on May 20, 2024

Fresh off the release of her new album, empathogen, it was announced that Willow will join Childish Gambino on his The New World Tour. Speaking to Variety, she says she’s honored to be supporting him on the trek.

“Childish Gambino is one of the most prolific visionaries of this generation,” Willow says. “It’s an honor to be with him in any shape or form.”

First introduced to the world as the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow says she’ll “forever wish to be close to my family in every way” — but notes she’s very much her own person.

“I think that as soon as you’re born, you’re an individual who needs to make their own decisions. We all have to figure out how to be adults and live our lives as individuals,” she says.

Her journey so far includes her debut single, “Whip My Hair,” and albums Ardipithecus, The 1st, Willow, Lately I Feel Everything, Coping Mechanism and the recently released empathogen. While Willow doesn’t ever “think about genre, only about the content,” in hindsight, her music has all had a similar message.

“I think that I have always tried to tell the truth in my music, whether I was 13 or 23, or 8 and 23,” she says. “I even look back at ‘Whip My Hair’ and, when I listen to its lyrics, the message is the same as now, the same as I always wanted to say: Live through your heart and don’t allow people to tell you that’s wrong. Encouraging others to be true to themselves has always been my case, no matter what book, album or genre I do that in. That’s only if I stay authentic, which … well, I’m not planning on getting fake any time soon.”