Willow Smith Claims Growing up Famous Is ‘Excruciatingly Terrible’

Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s children have never been shy about telling the whole world about how they feel — and the world has never been shy about listening, and criticizing. In an interview promoting her new album The 1st, Willow Smith is speaking up about that kind of unconditional attention, and what it can do to a person.

Smith was an instant sensation back in 2010 when she released “Whip My Hair,” the song that first put the Smith kids in the public eye. Now, Smith is seventeen, and she’s not putting it delicately when she talks about spending the most formative years of her life famous.

Smith’s interview is the cover story of the first issue of Girlgaze, a new digital zine about feminism, photography, and everything in between. in a chat with Scarlett Curtis, she talked about how The 1st sums up her highly publicized teenhood.

“Growing up and trying to figure out your life… while people feel like they have some sort of entitlement to know what’s going on, is absolutely, excruciatingly terrible,” Smith said. “And the only way to get over it, is to go into it… I feel like most kids like me end up going down a spiral of depression, and the world is sitting there looking at them through their phones; laughing and making jokes and making memes at the crippling effect that this lifestyle has on the psyche.”

Smith says that her album is meant to “capture the darkness and the beauty and not separate them.”

The 1st came out on Halloween, and has been receiving decent reviews. It’s available to stream or purchase on several digital music platforms. All accounts say that Willow Smith puts on a particularly amazing live show. She’s currently on a US tour with Jhene Aiko.