Willow Smith drops debut album, ‘Ardipithecus,’ named after ancient bones

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 11 (UPI) — Willow Smith tweeted a link to her surprise debut album Friday after only vaguely hinting at its release.

The 15-year-old singer and Marc Jacobs spokesmodel’s album named Ardipithecus, consists of 15 tracks including “Organization & Classification,” “dRuGz,” and “UR Town.”

The teenage artist is listed as the primary producer and songwriter on most of the songs. She collaborated with JABS on two tracks and listed eldest brother Trey Smith (AcE) as co-producer on three of them.

Although a traditional promotional campaign did not take place before the album, Smith did allude to the release date several times on Twitter.

In an email to the press, Smith explained the peculiar name to her debut album is a retrospective one, saying “Ardipithecus Ramidus is the scientific name of the first hominid bones found on earth.”

“I wanted to name my musical compilation after it because, while I was making these songs I was in such a transitional state,” Smith wrote. “Digging deep into the soil of my heart and finding bits and pieces of my ancient self that tell stories, which end up being the lyrics to the songs. Ardipithecus is my first album in my entire career and it makes me feel so blessed to be able to share my evolution with the LightEaters as I continue excavating my inner worlds.”

Smith also dropped the official audio video to the track “F Q-C #8,” which she says, according to a statement sent to Fader, is part of a collection of songs “created through characters I have developed within my mind.”

Ardipithecus is available now on iTunes and Spotify.