Willow Smith’s ‘Whip My Hair’ Video Premieres

October 19, 2010

Willow Smith’s ‘Whip My Hair’ Video Premieres
Everyone gets in on the hair-whipping action in the colorful clip.

As far as pop stars are concerned, Willow Smith is about as unique as they come. For one, there are those famous movie-star parents of hers. Plus, she has a fashion sense that is all her own. Oh yeah, and did we mention she’s only 9 years old?

It was all too fitting, then, that the video for her debut single, “Whip My Hair” — which hit her website late Monday (October 18) — drives home the importance of individuality.

The clip opens in an all-white classroom filled with kids who look bored out of their minds. Enter Willow, dressed like a real-life Rainbow Brite, ready to shake these kids out of their routine. Debuting the first of the clip’s many hairstyles, Willow dips her long braids into bright-colored paints and begins to whip her hair around and bring some color into the lifeless room.

Everyone gets in on the hair-whipping action throughout the video, including the once-buttoned-up teacher and an adorable toddler. A handclap-filled breakdown in the middle of the video lets Willow and her dancers show off some stepping action.

Jay-Z signed the up-and-comer to his Roc Nation label last month, telling Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview that he first heard “Whip My Hair” before he knew it had been recorded by a 9-year-old. “I was like, ‘Man, that record’s a smash,’ ” he recalled. “And then [Roc Nation partner] Jay Brown said, ‘She’s 9,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ And [then] he was like, ‘She’s Will and Jada’s daughter,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ and it just went from there.”

Responding to Seacrest’s question about the meaning of “Whip My Hair,” Willow said that “it means just be an individual. Like, you can’t be afraid to be yourself, you have to be yourself, and you can’t let anyone tell you that that’s wrong.”