Hi, everyone. Sickthony Boytano here, the internet's most nauseous music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Willow album, Empathogen.

Newest LP from singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Ms. Willow Smith, whose music career has been a curious one up until this point. If you remember, she broke out in the early 2010s with one of the most viral and memorable singles of that decade, "Whip My Hair," which was one of those rare moments where a pop tune that's clearly geared toward the kiddies still goes hard. I think from the success of that single, she could have easily launched into some music child star pop phenomenon type career.

But after this song, we only got a trickle of singles from there, and it wouldn't be until several more years down the road that we would Willow's full-length debut album, the record Artepithicus, which in the greater scheme of her discography now, in retrospect, feels like the start of a trilogy with her first three albums, all of which collectively see Willow exploring different styles pretty freely. On these records, there are touches of art pop, RnB, synthpop, neo-psych, singer-songwriter, chamber pop, folk, as well as some indie pop and soul, too.

Now, with these records, while it was surprising that Willow was going in the directions creatively that she was, you could argue that the album still lacked quite a bit of finesse and maturity on the songwriting and production side. But these records were still representative of Willow taking a respectable path, less traveled, especially, again, considering the career she could have had if she essentially doubled and tripled down on "Whip My Hair" and gave us an entire record of stuff along those lines.

So we got this trio of very versatile but somewhat spotty records, and then after that, a tone shift, where Willow suddenly caught on to the pop, punk, and emo wave of the late 2010s and early '20s, the effects of which we can still feel today. But during this time, from Juice WRLD to MGK to even Taylor Swift collaborating with Brandon Yuri, everyone was feeling the emo spirit. And of course, Willow's first foray into this series of more alternative rock music styles, included features from Travis Barker as well as Avril Lavigne. The record ultimately was a bit too brief and a little basic when it came to this style.

The album that followed from their coping mechanisms saw Willow again taking a shot at some rock crossover. And while it didn't exactly 110% work, it was a better LP, a really an improvement on all fronts in terms of singing, songwriting, and production, as well as Willow's embrace of rock music straight up just feeling a bit more authentic.

Now, two years later, Willow is switching it up once again on Empathogen, a record that brought us some pretty surprising singles. There was "Symptom of Life," which was a piece of very tense, emotionally explosive piano rock with some jazz touches here and there, very big drums, too. Big Fiona Apple vibes on this track in the best possible way. But Willow making it her own with a smoother delivery, more vocal harmonies, and taking a decidedly mystical and philosophical approach on the lyrical side.

There's also the track "Big Feelings," which is the closer of the album, which I think stylistically has a lot of crossover with "Symptom of Life," especially with those very angular, speedy, and skilled piano passages, the huge punchy drums. It's a track all about big feelings. How big were they? I don't know. Big enough to where she'd write a song about them. Pretty much everything that made "Symptom of Life" a good single continues onto this track, but it's amped up to a considerable degree.

Willow really had me wondering going into this record, whether or not we were in for this angsty '90s piano singer-songwriter revival type project. While Willow certainly does borrow from that world, she also takes quite a few notes from a few indie mainstays as well. Not just in spirit, though, as she literally has a massive St. Vincent feature on one track of this record, "Pain for Fun," where Annie Clarke's vocals actually take the lead for the majority of the track, to the point where it feels like a St. Vincent song, but with a Willow feature. I mean, it's one of the better tracks on the record regardless. It's not exactly like this twinkly chamber folk direction is stylistically where St. Vincent is at currently in her music. At the end of the day, I suppose it does fit in very snuggly with pretty much every other song on this Willow record here, so it's a good placement.

Of course, Willow gets to embrace her jazzier side as well on the opening track "Home" that features John Batiste. Some incredible piano runs there on that track, but it's really the lyrics on this cut that I think are telling Willow talking about essentially going with the flow down a river of grace that is eventually taking her home, which I think is fitting because the instrumental palate of this record, where she's going artistically and sonically, has never sounded more her. While I think Willow has come through with some solid and respectable tracks over the years, this record is really the first time I feel like I'm listening to a Willow album truly. The bold, fierce, and tight pianos and drums, underscoring these powerful emotional soaring lead vocals, just feel like her formula.

And even as Willow drifts away from the keys a bit more on this record and favors some guitar, she maintains her musical focus and persona. The tight syncopation and angular melodies remain, especially on tracks like "Ancient Girl." However, I feel like songs like this one expose the Achilles heel of the record as it's such a great idea. It's so catchy, it's so well executed, but simultaneously so freaking short.

I feel like in a way, we get robbed of hearing a fully fleshed-out song with this melody and this compositional build. There are a few other tracks on the record that feel like they could have been developed into fuller, more entertaining songs had they been pushed further, I know that "Face Down," and even "Between I and She" to an extent, too. I think fleshing out these songs would have made her album a better length, just an overall better experience. It's a bit of a head-scratcher because there are plenty of tracks on this record where Willow goes far enough, bringing her songwriting to some great and logical conclusions, lyrically, instrumentally. But there are several key occasions in the tracklist where she just can't be bothered to go any further, I guess.

Still, other highlights on this LP include "The Fear is Not Real," which obviously also speaks to this record's themes around powerful and difficult-to-ignore emotions, and also proves that Willow can pull off a mournful slow burner if she wants to, and also make it transition effectively into some passages that are a lot more energetic with some dance beats without things coming off to disjointed or awkward.

"False Self" is a really well-written and sharp, hushed piece of rock with some neo-soul-inspired vocal transitions that go over very well. Then there's also "Run," which is a great piece of acoustic rock that again brings us those punchy drums. A stellar, maybe the best vocal performance from Willow on the entire LP, when she really hits those raspy highs and singing, I can't get out. Man, she's just on another level vocally, in my opinion, than she's been in the past.

Overall, I enjoyed this record quite a bit. I think it's very solid. I think it's a very entertaining and creative showing from Willow. I feel like this is the first time in her career where she's really potentially teeing us up for something truly great down the road. The execution in terms of performances and writing for the most part are great to the point where I'm just really left wanting more, more, more, more, especially on these shorter tracks. The only thing that's really holding Willow back at this point is this insistence on keeping things as brief as she does. To my ear, she is writing up and recording too many great musical ideas to cut them off as prematurely as she does on a couple of tracks.

I'm feeling a decent to strong seven on this one.

Music, music. Talking, talking. I talk. I talk, I review music. Not feeling too good. Forever.