Willow Smith
| Willow Smith | |
|---|---|
 Willow Smith at the White House, Easter Egg Roll in April 2011. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Willow Camille Reign Smith |
| Also known as | Willow |
| Born | October 31, 2000 Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Genres | R&B, pop, hip hop, dance |
| Occupations | Actress, singer-songwriter, dancer |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | Roc Nation/Columbia Records |
| Associated acts | Nicki Minaj |
| Website | www.willowsmith.com |
Willow Camille Reign Smith (born October 31, 2000) is an American child actress and pop singer. She is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the younger sister of Jaden Smith. Smith made her acting debut in 2007 in the film I Am Legend and later appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl alongside Abigail Breslin. She received a Young Artist Award for her performance.
Apart from her acting she launched a music career in the fall of 2010 with the release of her singles "Whip My Hair", "21st Century Girl", and signing to her current mentor Jay-Z's record label Roc Nation, becoming the youngest artist signed to the label. "Whip My Hair" has peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video was nominated for Video of the Year at the BET Awards of 2011.[1]
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Personal life
Willow Smith is the daughter of musician-actor Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett Smith. She has an older half-brother, Trey Smith, and an older brother, Jaden Smith; both are also child actors. Smith is African-American, and also has West Indian Creole and Portuguese-Jewish ancestry. Smith and her brothers are youth ambassadors for Project Zambia, which provides assistance for Zambian children orphaned by AIDS in conjunction with Hasbro.[2][3]
Acting career
Smith made her acting debut in I Am Legend alongside her father.[4] Her next film, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,[5] was released on July 2, 2008. In 2008, she voiced the character of young Gloria in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, alongside her mother as older Gloria.
On January 20, 2011, Will Smith announced he is planning to produce a remake of the famous comic strip Little Orphan Annie starring Smith in the title role. Jay-Z is also in talks to provide the music for the film and possibly create brand new songs.[6]
Music career
2010–present: Knees and Elbows
In June 2010, Smith's mother Jada Pinkett Smith announced in an interview on Lopez Tonight that Smith would be releasing an album. Smith then released her first single, "Whip My Hair", which went platinum in the US and peaked at number 11. In the UK the single peaked at number 2. Smith soon after announced her next single, "21st Century Girl". After she performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she released it the next day on February 3, 2011. The video was released March 9, 2011. Smith opened for Justin Bieber on the European leg of his My World Tour.[7] The single had poor chart performance both in the US and UK.
On October 6, 2011, "Fireball", a collaboration between Smith and rapper Nicki Minaj, was released. "Fireball" was a commercial failure, failing to chart in any type of music market, except the US R&B chart, charting at 121. and her first song to miss the Billboard Hot 100. Smith's producer announced that they were almost finished working on her debut album, and it should be done soon. He also said it has a similar style to "Whip My Hair". The title of the album was later announced to be Knees and Elbows.[8] It was slated that it would be released around April 2012, but was announced that it will be released later this year. On May 1, 2012, she dropped the "Do it Like Me (Rockstar)" [9] music video out, saying that it was the "First video ever!!!". On July 2, 2012, Smith released "I Am Me" music video at the BET Awards. On July 17, she released her fourth single "I Am Me" via iTunes and Amazon. Later on, she had released a new song called "Sugar and Spice".
Discography
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [10] |
US R&B [11] |
AUS [12] |
AUT [13] |
CAN [14] |
DEN [15] |
GER [16] |
IRE [17] |
NZ [18] |
UK [19] |
||||
| "Whip My Hair" | 2010 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 69 | 18 | 9 | 44 | 11 | 36 | 2 | Knees and Elbows[8] | |
| "21st Century Girl" | 2011 | 99 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 [23] |
— | 91 | ||
| "Fireball" (featuring Nicki Minaj) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "I Am Me" | 2012 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Sugar and Spice" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
Featured singles
| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | "Find You Somewhere" (Jaden Smith featuring AcE & Willow Smith)[24] | The Cool Cafe: Cool Tape Vol. 1 |
| 2013 | "Kite" (Jaden Smith featuring Willow Smith)[25] | Non-album song |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "Whip My Hair" | Ray Kay |
| 2011 | "21st Century Girl" | Rich Lee |
| "Fireball" | Hype Williams | |
| 2012 | "Do It Like Me (Rockstar)" | – |
| "I Am Me" | Mike Vargas |
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | I Am Legend | Marley Neville[26][27] | |
| 2008 | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | Countee Garby | |
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Baby Gloria | Voice | |
| 2009 | Merry Madagascar | Abby | Voice / TV movie |
| 2009–2010 | True Jackson, VP | Young True[28] | Nickelodeon TV series |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film (Young Actress Age Ten or Younger) | I Am Legend | Nominated |
| 2009 | Best Performance in a Feature Film (Young Ensemble Cast) | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | Won | |
| 2011 | NAACP Image Award[29] | Outstanding New Artist | Herself | Won |
| Outstanding Music Video | "Whip My Hair" | Nominated | ||
| BET Awards | Video of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Best New Artist | Nominated | |||
| YoungStar Award | Won (Tied with Jaden Smith) | |||
| 2012 | Herself | Nominated |
References
- ^ "Video of the Year". Black Entertainment Television (BET). Retrieved 2011-11-21. Text " BET Awards " ignored (help); Text " Shows " ignored (help); Text " BET " ignored (help)
- ^ "Jaden and Willow Smith support Project Zambia". In Touch Weekly. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ "Actors Jaden and Willow Smith Join Hasbro, Inc.'s Project Zambi as Youth Ambassadors". Project Zambi. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Orloff, Brian; Lazaruk, Lauren (December 2, 2007). "Will Smith: My Daughter Wants to Be Paris Hilton". People. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Smith, Krista (June 2010). "Rising Son: The New Karate Kid". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ "Will Smith Planning ‘Annie’ Remake With Jay-Z". Screen Rant. 2011-01-20. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
- ^ Morgan, Katie. "Willow Smith Introduces 'Oprah' View res To New Song 21st Century Girl", Billboard, March 2, 2011, accessed March 3, 2011.
- ^ a b Moody, Nekesa Mumbi (December 8, 2011). "Willow Smith Talks New Album 'Knees and Elbows'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ Do it Like Me (Rockstar)
- ^ Caulfield, Keith; Pietroluongo, Silvio (November 4, 2010). "Chart Moves: Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Kanye West". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc). Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ Yahoo Video. "Willow Music News & Info". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
- ^ "ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart: 29/11/2010". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Willow – Whip My Hair". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
- ^ "Nielsen Music: Canadian Update (November 5, 2010)". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Willow – Whip My Hair". danishcharts.com. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
- ^ musicline.de / PhonoNet GmbH. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News et-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
- ^ "irishcharts.com – Discography Willow". irish-charts.com. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ "Charts.org.nz – Willow Smith". charts.org.nz. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ "Chart Stats – Willow Smith". chartstats.com. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ "RIAA – Gold & Platinum – January 25, 2011". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum – January 2011". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
- ^ Chart Track
- ^ http://www.rap-up.com/2012/09/17/video-ace-f-jaden-willow-smith-find-you-somewhere/
- ^ http://www.rap-up.com/2013/01/14/new-music-jaden-smith-f-willow-kite/
- ^ Howell, Peter (December 3, 2007). "Will Smith goes it alone". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Freydkin, Donna (December 11, 2007). "'Legend' premiere has that Smith family vibe". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ don't forget "testing true"! :). Ashley Argota, YouTube, a.k.a. ashargota (official YouTube channel). 1:42 minutes in. "Willow Smith, who is Will Smith's daughter, is going to be playing Young True."
- ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (March 7, 2011). "'21st Century Girl' Willow Smith wins new-artist NAACP Image Award". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved March 8, 2011.
External links
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- 2000 births
- 21st-century American actresses
- 21st-century American singers
- Actresses from Los Angeles, California
- African-American child actresses
- African-American dancers
- African-American female singer-songwriters
- African-American film actresses
- African-American television actresses
- American child singers
- American female dancers
- American female pop singers
- American people of Creole descent
- American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent
- American people of West Indian descent
- American pop singer-songwriters
- Child pop musicians
- Living people
- Roc Nation artists
- Singers from Los Angeles, California
- Young Artist Award winners
