Willow Smith hits back at claims she's only famous because of her parents
Topics: Celebrity, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Music
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Music
24-year-old Willow Smith has addressed criticism from those who have claimed her success is a result of being the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Willow first burst onto the scene as a result of her catchy hit 'Whip My Hair,' followed by the more recent releases of fellow bops 'Meet Me At Our Spot' and 'Wait a Minute!'.
But even before we were able to hear her on the airwaves, Willow made her film debut in I Am Legend alongside her dad, Will.
Having two famous parents, it's easy to see why people have ascribed the nepo baby label to Willow - but she's keen to challenge this perception.
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Willow released her album Empathogen earlier this year, and off the back of the success, was profiled by Allure.
In the interview, she addressed the label head on.
She said: "I definitely think that a little bit of insecurity has driven me harder because people do think that the only reason I’m successful is because of my parents.
"That has driven me to work really hard to try to prove them wrong. But nowadays, I don’t need to prove s**t to anybody.
“I truly believe that my spirit is a strong spirit and that, even if my parents weren’t who they were, I would still be a weirdo and a crazy thinker.”
She also explained that being Black challenges the label further.
"Being Black in America, even with privilege, which I’m never going to deny that I have, you’re still Black,” Willow explained.
“And I love being Black. People would look at me and [say], ‘Okay, well, her parents are this and this and that, but she still is like me. She still has brown skin’.
“And we all know that that doesn’t exempt you from anything, and that’s a place of connection."
Elsewhere in the interview, Willow leaned into her identity as an artist, and explained the thought process behind her latest record.
She said: “I'm settling into more of who I am. And that doesn't mean that screaming and shredding on the guitar is not who I am because it is, but I'm going a little bit deeper. It's about being a well-rounded musician more than anything for me and not being pigeonholed into any specific genre.
"Everyone wanted me to make another rock album. I just always do the thing that everyone thinks is a bad idea. People thought that doing a rock album was going to be a bad idea, and then it turned out to be a good idea, and so I just have to trust myself because you live and die by your own hand. That's the life of an artist.”