Willow Smith covers the July issue of Nylon Magazine, styled by Tiffany Reid in Annakiki, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Puppets and Puppets, Schiaparelli, Thom Browne and more. Photographers AB+DM [IG] [(Ahmad Barber and Donté Maurice)] [IG] are behind the lens with videography by Alex Van Brande for ‘Punk Rock Prophet’.

Allie Jones talks through the interview. / Hair by Vernon Francois; makeup by Ffancie Tomalonis

Willow Smith Meets Her Idol Avil Lavigne

Speaking recently with V Magazine, Willow Smith made it clear that she is forging a path for Black women in punk rock and into heavy metal — whatever price she will pay in her cosmic spirit for the journey. Smith was only 2 years old when Avil Lavigne hit the Billboard charts with “Sk8er Boi.” It took another 5-6 years before Willow Smith tuned into Lavigne’s music, a year before the release of her first single ‘Whip My Hair’.

By then, Willow Smith was listening to Avil Lavigne 24/7, the 20-year-old talent tells Nylon. “ . . . [I was] trying to dress like her and trying to just be her, honestly.”

Smith’s dream to connect with her long-time idol bore fruit in June 2021, when the two women connected to make a music video in Los Angeles. It was, says Smith, a “fever dream.” Jones notes that TikTok has decided that Lavigne is cool again — her first post, set to “Sk8er Boi” and co-starring Tony Hawk, has been viewed over 29 million times. Note that Lavigne herself is now really into country music.

Willow Smith’s now-completed album ‘Lately I Feel Everything’ was released on July 16.

Willow Smith: Playing with Fire

Pop-punk’s cultural reemergence is tied to the reality that with social and political events in America escalating, “people just want to scream and growl and express themselves because this time in life and in America and on Earth is not easy, and it's very, very chaotic and sus.” On the one hand, “I think that people just want to live and have fun and not feel like impending doom is always around the corner,” Smith offers up as explanation.

That desire can still be expressed as self-reflective, philosophical and youthful exuberance. Jones expands the Willow Smith pov.

Everything about the writing, recording, and collaborating on the new album has been, in her words, fire. The bassist in her rehearsal band? Fire. Getting to make a music video with Lavigne? Also fire. The moment Barker got in the recording studio with her? “I was like, ‘Yo, that's fire,’” she says.