Willow Smith takes viewers through nature in colorful "symptom of life" clip

On Tuesday (March 12), Willow Smith returned with a new single titled "symptom of life," a soulful, genre-bending number that saw her searching for a deeper understanding of her existence in the universe.

"Pushing and peeling the layers that cover my mind, looking into the shadow, now I notice the light, magic is real, when you see it inside, you decide/ It's like a snake shedding skin, creating life to begin, and all you know has vanished again, transcending virtue and sin/ Feast my eyes on lower things while beauty is a symptom of life, gotta decide if I'm gonna see it, why?"

The track, which Willow produced alongside Chris Greatti, came with a self-directed visual. Viewers could see the multi-talent in the woods with her friends before the scene changed into different environments.

"The song has a very beautiful whimsical nature, but holds a lot of mystery," Willow explained about the track in a press release. "There’s this beautiful light coming in through the piano, but also this syncopated rhythm of the bass bringing in that mysterious element. A juxtaposition of light and dark."

Back in 2022, the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith unveiled her fifth studio LP, <COPINGMECHANISM>, an 11-song effort that mixed a myriad of sounds, including punk rock, ska, and R&B. The Roc Nation-backed project boasted a single feature from Yves Tumor on the standout "Perfectly Not Close To Me."

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Willow was asked about the recording process behind <COPINGMECHANISM> and how it compares to her upcoming body of work.

"During that time, emotionally, I was going through so much. There was so much anger. There was so much resentment. There was so much need to just express myself," she explained. "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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