Willow Smith shaves head on stage while performing ‘Whip My Hair’
Smith's haircut came midway through a punk rock rendition of her debut jam, which closed out her Facebook Live concert on Friday.
Willow Smith took another artistic leap during a recent performance of her first-ever single, “Whip My Hair”: She had her head shaved on stage as she performed the song.
The haircut came midway through a punk rock rendition of the Smith debut — which was released when she was only 9 — closing out her Willow In Concert: lately I feel EVERYTHING concert on Facebook Live on Friday.
In a video of the show, Smith picks up a guitar to play as a woman clad in a leather jacket walks on stage holding a stool and clippers. The singer takes a seat and continues to belt it out — and now simultaneously play guitar — as her hair is shaved.
In a behind-the-scenes interview with the 20-year-old star, she hinted at the haircut saying, “I am thinking about shaving my head during the ‘Whip My Hair’ performance,” she later added. “This is gonna be my third time in my life shaving my head. I’m always shaving my head at monumental times in my life when things are really changing and this is definitely one of those moments.”
Smith’s fourth studio album, lately I feel EVERYTHING, features collaborations with Avril Lavigne and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. The produced Facebook Live performance was part of the release celebration.
Both Lavigne and Barker joined Smith on stage for a performance of “GROW.”
In a review of the new album, NME recently said, “Celebrating the music she loves every time she makes a record, WILLOW has never put a foot wrong with any album she’s made.”
WHIP MY HAIR??? pic.twitter.com/scJv7f9f24
— ❀ ????-????? ❀ (@arisblazedbae) July 16, 2021
“She simply makes great music and knows how to not stick herself in a box,” opines Kyann-Sian Williams. “And with ‘lately I feel EVERYTHING’, the child star-turned-music-innovator sends a fond farewell to adolescence. It was a risky move, switching from conscious R&B star to grungy punk beau, but WILLOW has knocked all doubts out of the park – again.”
During Friday’s concert, Smith said, “So when I made ‘Whip My Hair,’ I didn’t really know that it was an important thing, because I was just expressing my joy and I was just expressing myself. Young Willow was just so fearless. She was just like, ‘I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it however it needs to be done. And if you don’t like it, then I’m sorry.'”
Smith’s mother, Wicked Wisdom lead singer Jada Pinkett Smith, recently shaved her head as well after battling challenges with hair loss.
Willow added that the core idea behind “Whip My Hair” is the same as the core idea for all of her music: “I want to be promoting positivity. I want to be promoting expression, and I feel like ‘Whip My Hair’ was just a huge encouragement to people to just be themselves and to help others do the same.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!
