How Willow Smith pays homage to punk culture with her music

Willow Smith has been part of the public eye for her entire life, but her musical identity has always been an extension of herself. Her career up to this point has felt like a breakaway from the famous association of her parents and a way for her to symbolize her autonomy.  Her single, “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” features Travis Barker of Blink-182 and is a homage to Black punk culture and rock music of the early 2000s.

The four-bar count-in in the intro is a clear homage to the Ramones’ famous count-in, and the angular guitar chords add consistent energy within the track. Smith's stellar vocals add a sense of beauty not usually present in punk music, and the structure of the song gives spaces for both the instrumentation and vocals to direct the track.

Traditionally, punk songs deliberately try to make their vocal delivery as rough and unappealing as possible, but Smith’s voice beautifully complements the jagged instrumentation.

Punk music was created as a response to the excessive and indulgent nature of 1970s rock music. While popular bands like the Ramones and the Clash found mainstream success in the U.K. and the U.S., Black punk bands have mostly either only found underground success or been forgotten by history.

Death, for example, was a punk band formed in 1964 and was one of the first Black punk bands to exist, but their names are rarely seen or documented in historical archives about punk music. Their name combined with their style of music was abrasive for their time period, so they were shunned from record labels and faced difficulties financing their projects.

Smith’s music takes inspiration from these unsung pioneers while adding her own artistic flair to the genre.

Punk music has made its way into the mainstream, and its popularity has expanded with the number of popular artists who pay homage to the era and its icons. In modern culture, Black artists have been more vocal about taking stylistic and musical inspirations from punk music.

The three-piece alt-rock group BLACKSTARKIDS combines indie-style instrumentation with saturated colors and a punk aesthetic. Playboi Carti has fully co-opted his “rockstar vampire" aesthetic which borrows heavily from punk icons, and his album cover for his 2020 album Whole Lotta Red pays homage to 70s punk publication Slash Magazine.

This stylistic change spawned many memes and generated lots of free publicity for Playboi Carti. Throughout Smith’s career, her music before this single was primarily neo-soul inspired. Her last solo album, 2019’s  “WILLOW” is filled with R&B-inspired hooks and soaring choruses, and her art direction was very psychedelic-inspired.

Songs like “Time Machine” and “Female Energy, Part 2” heavily focus on vibe rather than instrumentation, and Smith’s vocals are saturated with effects in order to create a feeling. While Smith doesn’t have to deal with problems that many independent artists face like financing her singles or producing her own music, her main problem is maintaining authenticity within her music and vision.

“t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” is a new artistic direction for Smith and illustrates her newfound confidence as an artist. For someone with a platform such as her, this drastic shift shows her unapologetic nature as a creative, and her fans seem to be happy with her new musical style. Change represents growth for artists of her stature, and this new direction is exciting for both old and new fans of Smith.

While the female R&B genre has stars like SZA and Ari Lennox, Smith should serve as an inspiration to artists who are fearful of changing their style due to fan backlash or commercial viability. Her album will clearly continue and build upon these musical ideas, and her latest project will add another chapter to her creative identity.