Willow Smith’s “I Am Me” Video Will Melt Your Heart

Lemon’s Team Pick:

I already loved Willow Smith. But honestly, what’s not to love? She’s an adorable, talented, fashionable and sophisticated 11-year-old, who likes bright colors almost as much as I do. But then she went and filmed this video for her charming new ballad “I Am Me” and my heart nearly exploded with feelings. I think what I love most about it is the fact that the lyrics are sweet and uncomplicated. It feels authentic. Like an 11-year-old kid talking to other 11-year-old kids. The song isn’t over produced either. It’s just Willow being Willow, you know?

Maybe I’m supposed to be over Willow Smith? I dunno, I’m 22 now. But, you guys, 11-year-old girls still need badass role models to look up to. Hell, I still need badass role models to look up to. What I’m saying is, in a world full of Taylor Swifts and Justin Biebers, I would rather my kid look up to someone more like Willow. Does that make sense? And this is just too cute:

Also, can we talk about her outfit/haircut/hat?

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Lemon

Lemon has written 15 articles for us.

54 Comments

  2. Oh this is amazing! It’s everything an 11-year-old should be singing about (and everyone else for that matter), her look is really giving mini-AZMarie plus Sister-Sister realness, and the face she makes at 2:49 makes me lol forever.

  3. She really really really looks like her father. nothing to do with the haircut since it’s all in the face. was Jada even involved with her creation? lol.

    Also, these are the kind of songs I needed to hear at her age. And still do…

  4. My girlfriend and I were just chatting about this today! What a difference between now and “I Whip My Hair Back and Forth.” She rocks it out, and not just for an 11 year old. Also just in general. General rockage.

  5. eleven year-olds making great music is my daily life for the next week. girls rock camp is the best thing that ever happened to charleston. kids are just. so. AWESOME.

    • my fiancee (cheryl) is up there with the jacksonville crew! i hope you all are having a blast!

  6. If she had been around in the late 90s I would have been OBSESSED. I like that this song isn’t pop nonsense, but it still sounds like an 11-year-old wrote it. So wise-beyond-her-years but still so genuine.

  9. I watched this a couple days ago and spent the next couple hours watching everything Willow Smith has ever created. XD She’s perfect. I wish all children were like Willow Smith.

    Needless to say, I emailed this video to my 9-year-old sister. She loved it.

  10. If she started rapping “Parents just don’t understand” I would’ve sworn it was Will. Like the song.. She’s a break from the norm.. Which is always awesome. Kudos, Willow.

  12. Um, I’m 21 and I want her to be my role model. She is so talented, especially given her age.

    She also looks tremendously like her father here.

  13. i liked this soooo much. and then at the end when she said “ain’t nobody got time for that” i just about died.

  16. This song is so good. If an 11 year old can be a 22 year old’s hero she is mine. I love the part about validation– so important. So bye, I’m off to itunes.

    thelingerielesbian.wordpress.com

  20. “Be you, do what you do.” – I think this child should be an honorary Autostraddler just for that line, honestly.

    I read an article about Willow Smith and this song and how she got flack in the Twittersphere for her new look at the BET Awards and basically how gross it is that some ADULT said she was “turning into a little lesbo” because she cut her hair and is dressed more gender neutral. (Of course I read this on tumblr and was going to reblog/comment but didn’t get to and now I can’t find it.)

    I also read a quote from Will Smith about Willow’s haircut, in which he said (paraphrased) that they let her cut off her hair because she should know that her body belongs to her. HOW AWESOME IS THAT. All the parenting awards to Will & Jada.

    I’m feeling a lot of unexpected Smith-family love lately.

  21. ugh totally love and look up to her, even as a 24 year old. And yeah it is totally awesome that Will Smith said he let her cut her hair to prove to her that no one can controls her body except for her. Dying from feelings right now.

  22. Aww, Willow is so cute, and what a great message at any age of which to remind people. All the hate she has received is so ridiculous. Why do people care so much that a kid is having fun and being expressive? Sticks, man. All up in their asses.

  23. I think she’s awesome, I really like her songs, even though they are nothing like what i usually listen to.
    She looks so much like Will now its scary, and i love her with her hair shaved. (although i keep having WTF brain? moments when i think “it’s gonna be really weird when she sings I Whip My Hair now…”)

  26. I love Willow Smith. But why did you feel the need to bash Taylor Swift? Unlike Justin Beiber, who’s a underaged brat speeding around LA in a 100,00 dollar sports car, she’s handled her fame and career pretty well. She actually writes some of her own music and she plays an instrument. Her music is much less vulgar than the shit you hear on the radio. She’s not know for flashing her crotch in public or partying and coking it up like Lindsay Lohan. Willow is great all on her own, you really didn’t need to drag another positive artist down to boost Willow’s credibility.

      • This topic has been discussed in an article from one opinionated writer. Twenty million articles like the on you’ve link could be written about how fake and horrible Lady Gaga or any other current artist is. And Reise is a fucking idiot for assuming people take Taylor Swift’s songs too literally. The article she wrote could have been about any rapper on the radio today. Why didn’t she chose Katy Perry or Ke$ha or Madonna or Britney or Miley Cyrus to write about? Being a blogger for a website doesn’t make her word the absolute truth. That being said, none of these other artists have anything to do with Willow Smith. She’s great on her own. Stepping on anyone else to boost her up is just a stupid way for the author to take a personal jab at artists she doesn’t like. And it’s funny that Reise has such negative feelings for Taylor Swift when she’s defending the shit out of that transgendered maid who’s accused of sexually molesting a little boy.

        • I think a lot of times these angry commenters forget that Riese and other staff such as the author of this piece, Lemon, are actually just people and not a major news outlet. I might be wrong, but I don’t think Autostraddle tries to portray itself as a “fair and balanced” news source, it is a magazine that also includes editorial features. Like in a print magazine, you may not necessarily agree with every comparison drawn. Personally, one of the reasons why I enjoy Autostraddle is the “opinionated writers” who are able to put their personal views in the pieces they write.

  27. omg, she’s so much like her father, I HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM AND HER NOW. I love the 90s look of it.

  28. Confession: At first glance I thought this said “Will Smith”. And then I did some awkward Wiki-ing and realized she’s his daughter. Whoopsie. Maybe I’m late to the band wagon, but I’ve never heard of her. And my goodness, is she cool and adorable and awesome.

  30. This totally makes me want to cut off my hair.

    Willow is so amazing. I can’t wait to see what she’s like when she’s older.

  32. I love everything about this video, but mostly I love the hidden fanny pack 3:01. I also love that her shirt looks as if it was taken straight from her father’s wardrobe circa Fresh Prince.

  33. The first time I watched it I thought it was great but repetitive. But then I HAD to hear it again and thought it was just great, not too repetitive at all.

  34. I know everybody else said that, but could she look more like her dad? Like, at all? Her sassy facial expressions are totally his–for a second I thought I was watching him (although, to be fair, it’s 2 a.m.).

  36. Ever since that day when she tweeted about how she had been in a shoot for 10 hours and she was really tired and only wanted to go home, with lots of sadfaces, I’ve felt a bit bad about wanting her as a popstar. She is only 11, after all.

  37. I love that she made this about being herself and not about other people trying to bring her down. Most Taylor Swift songs that I have heard (which isn’t many…) are about being yourself in spite of other people. This is just about being yourself and existing with other people. I love it.

    • But Taylor’s message isn’t about being a hooker who goes back to the guys who continually cheat on or beat them is it. Again, I don’t understand why people need to put down someone else to prove their point. It’s like when Burger King or Jack In the Box feels the need to mention the others in their commercials. Or when a mid price car company needs to compare their cars to Mercedes Benz or BMW to sell their own products. Willow Smith is talented enough to stand alone, no need to bring anyone else into it. AND mentioning Beiber makes the author sound like every other hating fantard on youtube who feels the need to compare every single artist to him.

      • The point is, in comparison to Taylor Swift, who uses being gay as a putdown, is dumb enough to stand next to guys with swastikas emblazoned on their chests and advocates slut-shaming in just about every song she makes, and also in comparison to Justin Bieber who makes really, incredibly shady comments about rape, gets pissy with fans who would literally pick gum off the ground and chew it if he asked them to and has little respect for those trying to aid his career (see : countless interviews in which Justin has let his inner teen brat out), Willow Smith is a refreshingly different entity in the pop scene.

        She’s a preteen telling kids to LOVE THEMSELVES and not give two shits (or any shits at all) about what the world thinks about you.

        So while Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift use their public standings to suggest that judging people is cool and not totally gross and a generally shitty thing to do, Willow Smith effectively instills the motto “You Do You” into everyone, which is obviously what Autostraddle.com stands for and is, I think, the point that Autsotraddle Writer Lemon was trying to put across.

      • Mostly I’m just saying that I like how Willow Smith is not saying “I’m going to be me even though you are mean.” She’s saying “I’m going to be me because I’M GOING TO BE ME END OF STORY YOU GUYS.”

        That’s all. It’s just refreshing to hear that instead of Taylor Swift singing about how the people who were mean to her are going to be mean and a liar and pathetic and alone in life and mean. Just mean. Forever and ever amen.

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