WILLOW Gushes Over Working With Avril Lavigne: 'She’s Just Amazing'

Willow Smith is gearing up to release her debut pop punk album Lately I Feel Everything on Friday (July 16). Ahead of its release, she shared the feature-packed tracklist, which includes a collaboration with Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker called "G R O W." During a recent interview with Alt Press, WILLOW gushed over working with the singer-songwriter.

"My goodness. She’s just amazing. She knows this genre like the back of her hand," she said. "It was just effortless watching her come up with her verse. Just the tone of her voice and how she knows exactly the right tone that’s going to work with the song. When I heard her verse, I was like, 'Oh no, should I even get on this?' Because I’m not going to sound nearly as hardcore or amazing as she sounds. But then I was like, 'You know what? Don’t go back into that mindset. Be confident, hold your head up high and sing this damn song with this amazing woman.' I’m so excited for it."

Elsewhere in the interview, the 20-year-old pointed out the lack of Black people in rock music. "There’s just a tension there and a resistance that I really wanted to push back against," she explained. "And on top of the fact that I wanted to push back against that, I just love rock, and I always have for my whole life. Those are two really big reasons why I decided to make this project."