When “Meet Me At Our Spot” went viral a few years ago and eventually peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, Willow collected hordes of new fans. While audience expansion is always welcome, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter first made her Hot 100 debut nearly 15 years ago with “Whip My Hair,” and now, she’s reminiscing on that time with Billboard News ahead of her forthcoming Empathogen album.
“There were a lot of fun things about it,” she muses. “When I was a teenager, I was very like, ‘Uh, no, trauma … there were things that hurt me and things I don’t understand!’ And now, I’m like … obviously, there were things that hurt you and things that you don’t understand, but, overall, my message hasn’t really changed!”
The kid-geared, self-empowerment anthem marked the musical debut of Willow, who was just 10 years old at the time. Co-written by Ronald Jackson and Janae Ratliff and co-produced by Tim Carter and Jukebox & Obanga, “Whip My Hair” played on 2010s party rap, with Willow employing a rap-sung cadence over a mixture of heavy synths and drums. The song reached No. 11 on the Hot 100, becoming the highest charting hit of Willow’s career yet on Billboard’s marquee singles chart. “Whip My Hair” also landed on the Year-End Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ranking for two consecutive years: 2010 (No. 84) and 2011 (No. 76).
“‘Whip My Hair’ is like, ‘be yourself, live out loud, don’t care what anybody thinks, express yourself!’” Willow explains to Billboard News. “That hasn’t really changed. I really feel like ‘Whip My Hair’ is just a foundation for everything that has come later … It was a lot of fun. I am so grateful — I would never take it back.”
Since “Whip My Hair” lit up the charts, Willow has released five solo studio albums and a collaborative LP with Tyler Cole titled The Anxiety. 2021’s Lately I Feel Everything is her only solo album to hit the Billboard 200 (No. 46), buoyed, in large part, by the success of its Travis Barker-assisted lead single, “Transparent Soul.” Later that year, The Anxiety became the second Billboard 200 entry of Willow’s career, climbing all the way to No. 103 and spending 11 weeks on the chart, her longest running title yet.
With a catalog that ranges from ambient alternative music to hair-raising punk-pop and soulful rock n’ roll, it’s no surprise that Willow continued down the musical path she forged with “Whip My Hair” nearly 15 years ago.
“I’ve tried to run away from it. I’ve tried to be like, ‘No! I’m not a musician, I’m gonna do something else,’ and then, guess what? It just keeps coming back!” she says. “That’s how you know something is really important to you. If it causes you pain and discomfort and you’re still wanting to do it? I trust that inner drive. Even through the discomfort, you’re like, ‘I gotta stick with this.’”
As part of one of the last generations of child stars to rise to fame without TikTok, Willow jokes that “it would probably be lit” if she were 10 years old and releasing “Whip My Hair” today. “I can’t even really imagine it … thinking about it actually kind of interesting!”
Empathogen, the sixth studio album from Willow, hits DSPs on Friday, May 3.
