Willow Smith Reveals Struggles w/ Alcohol & Dark Times During Her Music Career: ‘I Was Getting Blackout Drunk Almost Every Session’

Willow Smith Reveals Struggles w/ Alcohol & Dark Times During Her Music Career: ‘I Was Getting Blackout Drunk Almost Every Session’

Willow Smith is candidly discussing her battles with alcohol and the challenging periods she faced while creating her recent albums.

In a candid interview with Dazed Magazine, Willow Smith opened up about the profound struggles she faced while creating her 2022 album Coping Mechanism. Despite the album’s title implying a form of relief, Willow Smith admitted to relying heavily on alcohol to manage her deep emotional pain:

“I was deeply heartbroken. I was getting blackout drunk almost every session for that album, and I was just in a bad spot. I wouldn’t want to make an album in that way, ever again.”

Willow Smith

The 23-year-old singer’s admissions come as part of a broader discussion about her mental health. Reflecting on her early career, she recalled a period after releasing the hit song Whip My Hair at age 11, describing it as a “dark night of the soul.”

She said,

“I think I was just really overwhelmed, and I had so many moments where I didn’t feel understood. At the time, I didn’t know how to express what I was going through, because people were like, ‘Oh, you’re a brat,’ or ‘You’re being ungrateful.’ I never wanted anyone to think I was ungrateful. I never wanted anyone to think that I didn’t love my life. And so that’s why I kept it all inside. But as we know, when you keep things inside, they come out at some point.”

Willow Smith also touched on her struggles with self-harm during that time, noting that it was her way of releasing emotions without external judgment:

“I think the self-harm was a way for me to let those emotions come out in a way where I wasn’t opening myself up to judgment from other people. Obviously I look back on it now and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, that was so dark.’ I went to therapy – I still go to therapy, because everyone should go to therapy – and I just realized why it was happening… your energy gets stuck and stagnant, and you start doing weird s*** to try to compensate for the life-force that’s not flowing, that needs to be flowing through you.”

In contrast, her latest project, Empathogen, represents a shift in her approach. Released on May 3, 2024, the album marks a departure from the despair expressed in Coping Mechanism:

“I decided, like, OK, I’m done with this ‘woe is me, everyone’s against me’ attitude. It’s time to do a bit of work and figure out who you actually are.”

Willow Smith’s shift from past struggles to personal growth and self-discovery appears successful, as Empathogen hit No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.

What are your thoughts on Willow Smith’s journey and her new album? Share your comments below!

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