Defending Willow Smith's Whip My Hair
Since the official release of Willow Smith's widely-anticipated single "Whip My Hair" on October 26, there have been plenty of accusations of nepotism - Willow is the daughter of Hollywood supercouple Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith - as well as charges that the video is over-the-top, even inappriopriate, for a 9-going-on-ten-10-old girl. (Willow turned 10 on October 31, shortly after the video was released.) Some say that the heavy makeup, different hairstyles (including a heart-shaped mohawk), and whiplash dance moves are too punk, too extravagant, and plain too much for a kid. So were were surprised (and pleased) to see Entertainment Weekly speaking out in Willow's defense:
Three reasons why we're crazy about Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair."
- The song totally rules. A great video starts with a cool tune, of course, and few recent tracks are more infectiously silly than Smith's unexpectedly solid jam. Sure, the infinitely repeated "I whip my hair back and forth" gets exhausting after a while, but that's only because we all still have "Whip" on near-constant replay.
- It reminds us of videos we dig. The paint-spatter vibe? Reminiscent of the Spin Doctors' colorful 1992 video for "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong." Those stacked-posse sequences? Straight out of Beyonce's groundbreaking 2008 dancefeast "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Her rockin' coiffure? Could be a sweet riff on Janelle Monae's creepy 2008 "Many Moons" short film.
- Her potential shines through. It would've been easy to brush off Smith's debut as just the latest pop offering from a Hollywood heiress. But now that the already unstoppable "Whip My Hair" has been augmented by this romp of a video, we can't wait to find out what she'll be doing in a year -- and in a decade. Cynics will suggest this is all the work of powerful producers (and parents), but we're hoping it's the first fun taste of a new star in the making.
As a personal P.S., we weren't bothered or surprised by Willow's "Whip" video, because it was pretty much what we expected to see from her. She's long been turning heads with her look (Remember this outfit? Or the half-shaved, Rihanna-style hairdo she wore in 2009?) so of course her music video's going to push the envelope, too. We can't help but see some shock value in "Whip," but fortunately, it doesn't cross the line into shallow shock value. (That would happen if Willow were swearing or making sexual innuedos in her lyrics, or wearing an outfit suited to Bella Thorne.) "Whip" is harmless and - with its shake-off-the-haters message - even empowering fun stuff for kids.