REVIEW: WILLOW - < COPINGMECHANISM >

4/5

Weeping Willow.

Controversy can cruelly cripple the careers of even those indirectly involved. But as Will Smith looks for his own 'Emancipation' from all this year's Oscar drama with his new Apple TV + movie directed by Antoine Fuqua of 'Training Day' and 'Legacy: The True Story Of The LA Lakers' fame. Let's focus on Willow and her music alone. Because Smith gives us a '<COPINGMECHANISM>' that can endure absolutely anything.

Such is these 20s roaring with our perplexed pain, but it doesn't seem like over a year since Willow like everybody told us 'Lately I Feel Everything' for another amazing album. Even so, Willow is still playing with yet more music for her FIFTH studio album (six, if you count 'The Anxiety' with Tyler Cole. We do, so sixth). Even though she is a week and change away from feeling 22 like Taylor Swift, who right now is the only one more prolific. Powering through and burning the 'Midnight(s)' oil next week. Partying like it was 1975, who will also teach you all about 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language' (living in Japan, I need this).

Making noise in a relatively quiet New Music Friday, Willow leads by saying '<maybe> it's my fault' in single. Adding, "Met her at a party, I said, "She seems nice"/Every time I thought about it, I got butterflies/And when I told you, we agree that she's alright (Ah)/Never thought I'd be trippin' over the lost time I said it was fine, yeah/Layin' down, six feet under, it's sublime/Should've saw the signs, now we're in a fight", crying painted tears on the artwork like the albums axe to grind, smashed TV set, looking like the 80's days of Talking Heads.

Yves Tumor brings rumours of more classic collaborations, 'Perfectly Not Close To Me' for an artist who got down with Avril and Travis last time out. Yet, the rest of the set remains J.Cole as the latest Smith family megastar member 'hover(s) like a GODESS' in ALL CAPS. "Just meet me inside the bathroom, "that's what she said/You're all that I see, not only for me, oh/To taste you is sweet, my heart is in pieces/When I walk, you f#####' hover like a goddess/Just meet me under the covers, baby, I wish/For you to be free, my only intent's to please you." This young queen making Murakami beauty out of eliciting the explicit, just like a Prince.  

The Ying and Yang 'Curious/Furious' and a 'Split' decision round out the rest of the album's standout singles. But it's the album's title track that is a titan in this punk clash of genres, like when the purple one we just talked about reigned. Representing a generation of anxiety in a worried world. Singing like an anthem about to reaffirm with truth, "Fun fact, I'm so, so sick of myself/My mind's a breeding ground for un-health/The walls are talkin' and the voices in my head (They're screamin' out loud)/Fun fact, some days, I just cry on the couch/Put my whole life away on a shelf." Yet, you can't put her records on the same dusty area. Because her talent is assured as the fact that it's the competition that will see the studio cutting room floor. Just like that hair she whipped into shape.

Laying another brick, this is just how she does it on her red table. 'BATSHIT!' crazy with 'No Control'. 'WHY?' You ask like a SHOUT! Because "I don't wanna keep feelin' alone/Isolation got me goin' psycho." And Willow, in solidarity, makes sure her fans that share the same sentiment don't. Or never will. 'Falling Endlessly' with the notion in devotion of "Don't wanna get up now/It's still the same every day/Lose myself and just f### around/It's an escape, yeah, it's a shame/I don't wanna get up now/Don't wanna get up now." "The least you could do is find someone else" she tells a friend ('ur a <stranger>' now, buddy) in a situation with a former flame. Boss brutality like the same Springsteen who said 'I Wish I Was Blind' ("when I see you with your man") and once even gave us an acoustic cover of 'Hair', Late Night with Neil You...I mean, Jimmy Fallon. Truth be told, it's time we all spoke our own in this filtered time of "I'm fine". Time for us to feel everything with the one who sets us free to do so.

Rocking like the Roc Nation she represents. All with the same bald head she shaved when she emancipated herself from Jay-Z and her father's requests to 'Whip (Her) Hair' all the way 'round a world tour. Making for the mature mentality of an incredible story of individual ground standing...as a child. In just under a half hour, Willow can give us quality and control in what would take other artists decades worth of discs to master. Now how's that for a coping strategy? Music for your new mechanism. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Maybe It's My Fault', 'Hover Like A Goddess', 'Perfectly Not Close To Me (Feat. Yves Tumor).'