Willow Smith is the new face of pop-punk, with a little help from Avril Lavigne herself

Willow Smith – daughter of Jada and Will – has a lot in the works, including her very first novel, the ongoing Red Table Talk which earned her an Emmy, and her 21st birthday, but nothing feels bigger and more poignant than her upcoming pop-punk album, Lately I Feel Everything, which features Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker, in case you're missing the '00s.

A massive fan of Lavigne in particular, it was a huge coup for Smith to team up with the singer for her song "Grow." In a new profile for Nylon, Smith said it was a "fever dream" after she simply DMed the star asking if she'd like to collaborate.

“We’ve both been through a lot in our musical careers, and we've had to do a lot of growing and a lot of evolving,” Smith said. “And I just wanted to put a testament to that. … The lyrics of pop-punk songs that sound like that aren't usually that insightful, so I wanted to mix my two worlds — like, this super philosophical and spiritual world with this, like, angsty world. I think we did a pretty good job on that.”

When Barker said he was interested too, Smith said, “I was like, ‘Yo, I'm shitting my pants.' Like, this is crazy. How is this even possible? Just infinite gratitude to both of them, because they're honestly pop-punk royalty.”

Speaking of pop-punk, it's seeing a hell of a reemergence right now and makes for a surprising but perfect fit for the multi-hyphenate, who explained it thusly:

“I think that there are a lot of things happening socially and politically, and I think that people just want to scream and growl and express themselves because this time in life and in America and on Earth is not easy, and it's very, very chaotic and sus. I think that people just want to live and have fun and not feel like impending doom is always around the corner.”

It's no mistaking Smith has come a long way, from releasing "Whip My Hair" at age nine, to doing a bit of acting here and there (alongside dad Will, too, in I Am Legend), modelling and, of course, co-hosting the always buzzy Red Table Talk alongside mom Jada and Gammy.

Her latest venture into grunge makes a ton of sense, though, when you consider Jada herself was in a metal band, Wicked Wisdom, back in the early '00s, and Smith and brother Jaden would often join her on tour.

“Her perseverance in the face of racism and sexism was just fire,” said Smith of that time. “I feel like that was the greatest kind of inspiration she could've given me.”

And so her own inspirations for her new album seem natural, too, as she adds, “I think mostly I'm just dealing with my budding love for women and my budding love for love in general, and all the different forms that that can take. I just honestly wanted to talk about being Black and being queer and just what that's like, and being Black and doing rock and just talk about my experiences.”

In conclusion, Smith said, “I just want all of the Black girls who were bullied in school for liking punk and metal, and for trying to perm their hair and flip it to the side and do all of this shit — I'm here for them and I want them to feel seen and want them to feel heard. That's my bottom line.”

BEFORE YOU GO: Willow Smith comes out as polyamorous

[video_embed id='2191077']BEFORE YOU GO: Willow Smith comes out as polyamorous[/video_embed]