Willow Premieres Frenetic Funk Jam ‘Run!’ During ‘Tiny Desk’ Concert
Willow stopped by NPR for a five-song Tiny Desk set that featured some old favorites, a couple of new tunes, and one world premiere performance.
As the penultimate offering, Willow debuted “Run!” a previously unreleased track from her upcoming album, Empathogen, out this Friday, May 3. “Run!” begins with a whole lot of irrepressible funk energy, with Willow’s dexterous vocals going toe-to-toe with the song’s bustling bass and fiery guitar. But near the end of the performance, Willow and her band channel all that frenetic might towards a more atmospheric plane as the song drifts to a meditative close.
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Along with premiering “Run!”, Willow played two other songs from Empathogen, “Symptom of Life” and “Big Feelings.” She also delivered a pared-back version of “Split” from her 2022 album, Coping Mechanism, and “Wait a Minute!”, the bedroom-funk favorite from her 2015 debut, Ardipithecus.
Empathogen marks Willow’s sixth studio album and first since Coping Mechanisms. The album will feature a pair of collaborations, with Jon Batiste joining her on the opening track, “Home,” while St. Vincent will appear on “Pain for Fun.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Willow spoke about moving away from rock and pop-punk after her past two albums. While she said those styles helped her channel a lot of “anger” and “resentment” during an emotionally difficult time, she was eager to move past the turbulence while making Empathogen.
“For Coping Mechanism, I was almost never sober in the studio. And for this new album, I was sober for every single recording session,” she said, adding: “I feel like my mind state was extremely different. There was so much more gratitude, so much more resonance with myself, and so much more coming back to my roots with these new songs that are coming out.”
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