Coachella 2023: Willow Smith makes festival her 'spot' in thrilling performance

Her famous father might be Hollywood's current persona-non grata, but it seems everyone still wants a piece of WILLOW.

By the time I arrived to her Sunday Coachella set — just as the performance was getting underway — a large and rapidly growing crowd had grown far beyond the bounds of a Mojave tent. It would quickly become apparent those in it had good reasons to be there at a time when the likes of Bjork and Dominic Fike were also playing elsewhere on the grounds — ones that were about much more than just seeing the no-longer-so-Fresh Prince’s daughter.

Because, it turns out, Will Smith’s daughter can really sing. And play a mean guitar. And scream. Oh wow can she scream, as she demonstrated early and often during a set that showcased many of her moodier tunes, but never more electrically than during “Ur A Stranger.”

“I know we’ve already been emo for a long time, but we are going to get more emo right now,” she said before launching into it.

But as much as everyone seemed to be enjoying the bummer party (and it was a good one), the crowd really lost its mind when WILLOW turned the show into a family affair and pretended to be talking to someone off stage. The cheers grew even louder when Jaden Smith, WILLOW’s brother and an acting and rapping star in his own right, joined her on stage to sing their collab “Summertime in Paris.” Will, mercifully, was nowhere to be seen.

Afterwards, the siblings poignantly gushed about each other with Jaden saying how proud he was to watch WILLOW playing on such a big stage, while WILLOW called him her favorite person.

Then came the song most of us surely came to see: "Meet Me At Our Spot." And while some were surely disappointed collaborator Tyler Cole did not join her stage, WILLOW proved more than capable of doing justice to the hit on her own.

“Wow that was splendiferous,” she said after the crowd finished roaring a section of lyrics with her. “I’m 80% sure that’s a word.”

I, meanwhile, am now much more than 80% sure that if Will Smith has been forced to abdicate the family crown, WILLOW is more than fit to wear it.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2023: WILLOW makes festival her 'spot' in thrilling set