WILLOW has dipped her toe in just about every musical pond she can find in her efforts to expand her own musical horizons. Her previous forays into pop, neo-soul, rock and pop-punk have yielded her notice and success, and her latest ventures into a jazzier realm seem to be doing the same. She gave us a listen to what she’s been brewing with her last cut “symptom of life.” Now, as she readies her upcoming album empathogen, the young talent invites us to share in her new single “b i g f e e l i n g s.”
Where “symptom of life” flirted with jazz thanks to its odd time signatures and piano toughened by a harder rock edge, “b i g f e e l i n g s” embraces the sound more wholeheartedly. The piano is back, though this time in moodier minor chords, and so are the ever-changing time signatures. This time around, she uses the sounds to delve into her own emotions and inner turmoil.
“I have such big feelings / Can’t shut ’em down without a sound / I have such big feelings / Can’t shut ’em down or let ’em out,” she sings over the piano’s rumble. “I know I’m not fine / But yes I say I’m fine / I know I’m not fine.”
“The piano part of this song is so dense and dissonant but also darkly beautiful. I wrote ‘b i g f e e l i n g s’ during a week where I was coming to terms with my own emotional patterns that I hadn’t known were there,” WILLOW said in a statement. “Musically, it has a darkness and complexity that reflects what we all experience in our own minds. The song is about accepting those intense feelings that you have no idea what to do with.”
“b i g f e e l i n g s,” “symptom of life” and more will be in the mix when WILLOW unveils empathogen on Friday, May 3rd. Get into the track and its official visualizer right here, and then get an eyeful of the album's beautiful cover and tracklist featuring songs with Jon Batiste and St. Vincent below.
WILLOW empathogen tracklist:
1. home feat. Jon Batiste
2. ancient girl
3. symptom of life
4. the fear is not real
5. false self
6. pain for fun feat. St. Vincent
7. no words 1 & 2
8. down
9. run!
10. between i and she
11. “i know that face”
12. b i g f e e l i n g s
