It was all the way back in 2010 when Willow Smith unleashed Whip My Hair on the world. And even though the song got mixed reviews and some minor resentment from those of us above the age of ten who weren't the prodigal daughter of entertainment royalty Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, we were all secretly throwing are heads from side to side as soon as the jerky intro bled through our radios.
But in the six or so years that have passed since Willow’s debut single dropped, it’s safe to say that few of us have heard very much from her beyond that amazing Chanel campaign last year. What you might have been missing, though, is that Willow has been quietly making music this whole time. It lives over on her YouTube channel and it's actually really, really good.
In this year alone Willow has uploaded more than 30 songs to her channel Frequencies by Willow Smith. In the description of most of her videos, viewers are invited to 'discover music that you'll never hear on the radio' and whether it's meant to be a dig at the industry or a poignant decision not to release music in the traditional sense, to be fair, we haven't heard any of this on the radio so far and it's quite a shame, really.
Once you get a few bars into the first verse of Willow's most recent release I Got Myself it's so clear that we've come leaps and bounds from hair whips and haters. Her voice is insane and we're really into the vibe. We're talking hauntingly smooth, soul-fueled R'n'B vibes that you probably didn't realise were missing from your life.
We're calling it - Willow Smith is one to watch on the music scene and is also way cooler than we ever were at the age of 16. Don't mind us, we'll just be here, permanently tuned to her YouTube frequencies from here on out.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.