Spotlight: WILLOW
35m
The GRAMMY Museum welcomed WILLOW to the Museum’s intimate 200-seat Clive Davis Theater for an evening celebrating her release, empathogen, her rising career, and creative process, with a performance to follow.
WILLOW is at the forefront of redefining musical boundaries and setting new standards of innovation and authenticity. WILLOW has established herself as this generation’s eclectic musical trailblazer. Her unique blend of introspective lyrics, ethereal melodies, and powerful collaborations cements her as a boundary-pushing artist, resonating with audiences and leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary music landscape.
At just 23-years-old, WILLOW has built a critically acclaimed discography traversing a breadth of sounds, from neo-soul (2015’s Ardipithecus) and psychedelic folk (2019’s WILLOW), to pop-punk (2021’s lately I feel EVERYTHING) and experimental hard rock (2022’s ). Her sixth album, empathogen, pushes the envelope even further.
Produced by WILLOW, Eddie Benjamin and Chris Greatti, empathogen is a genre-bending album. Inspired by a meditative mix of jazz, classical and indigenous tribal music, with features from Jon Batiste and St. Vincent, it sees WILLOW tapping into “ancestral energy” to evoke a sense of mystery, playfulness and depth. Coming off the back of two heavy guitar albums and countless achievements, including 1B streams on sleeper hit “Wait A Minute,” empathogen, which debuted at #1 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album chart, brings things back to earth. With soul searching lyrics and her vocals taking center stage, WILLOW has created something truer to herself than ever before.