On her ninth studio album, “The Thread,” Willow Smith explores femininity and spirituality through a blend of jazz, R&B, and pop.
Willlow Smith performed her ninth studio album, The Thread, at her October 7 show at Sony Hall in NYC. During her opening song, She’s My Religion, she held the mic out to the crowd, letting them chant the lyrics while nodding, trusting they’d go on forever if she let them.
“Such a beautiful thing to hear you sing these new lyrics,” she said. It’s not easy to sustain such a dedicated fan base for over a decade, but she led the crowd with the poise of a spiritual guide, and Sony Hall’s Art Deco space became like a temple.
Smith described The Thread as a “devotional” album inspired by the divine feminine and humanity’s connection to higher consciousness. Her lyrics are spiritual and introspective. On “Talk On The Hill“, inspired by The Telepathy Tapes podcast and its exploration of consciousness and nontraditional communication, Smith asks a spiritual leader to teach her the “melody” of nature.
Still, the album is gentle and smooth. Its melodies are accessible even when the lyrics venture into more abstract territory. Groovy bass lines and jazz arrangements get you moving, and pop melodies get stuck in your head.
Live, her music felt more punk than the recordings, with passionate drum solos and moments of physical catharsis. Still, it maintained the album’s softness with some added soul scatting. At times she belted, but she easily transitioned to her signature feathery falsetto.
Smith has experimented with elements from a range of genres throughout her career, from the neo-soul of 2015’s Ardipithecus to the psychedelic folk of 2019’s Willow, the pop-punk of 2021’s Lately I Feel Everything, and the experimental hard rock of 2022’s COPING MECHANISM. Her 2024 album Empathogen earned two Grammy nominations and debuted at the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart.
On her newest album, she showcases her genre-blending abilities more precisely than ever, weaving a ‘thread’ through all her musical fascinations.
Smith’s technical ability is increasingly central to her artistic identity. Each new project reveals another dimension of her craft. The Thread follows petal rock black, released in February of this year, on which Smith played almost every instrument, including guitar, piano, drums, bass, and organ.
She seems to have a healthy mania for mastering and making music. At the NYC show, just over two months after the release of The Thread, she debuted another song, the unreleased “Circles,” for her eager fans. Nine studio albums by 25 is quite the run (like her live vocals on “Crush On Eternity”).
Each time she sang “woman,” during her performance of “Tall Baby” she flexed her muscles. The gesture seemed to embody a theme throughout The Thread: femininity that is both gentle and powerful.
Her young fans echoed Smiths’s unapologetic, confident energy throughout the performance. Many likely grew up alongside her, from her first hit at age nine to the multifaceted artist she is today.
Over a decade into her career, Smith still seems to be discovering what she’s capable of. With The Thread, she keeps experimenting, unifying her influences even more. So if you haven’t been paying attention, it’s not too late to start.
The Thread out now on all streaming platforms, and on vinyl and CD on her official store.
