Willow Smith took the stage at BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge on Thursday (Sept. 29) as part of the stations Live Lounge Month series with her unique spin on Yungblud’s “The Funeral.”
The 21-year-old “Like a Goddess” singer sported a red velvet jacket, a multicolor beanie, several necklaces, blue jeans and boots, transforming the track into a smooth acoustic sound, differing from the original pop-punk number.
“I’ve been dancing at my funeral/ Waiting for you to arrive/ I was hoping you’d look beautiful/ Dancing with tears in your eyes/ But nobody came, what a shame, shame, shame,” the star emotively sang on the track’s chorus.
Fans were also pleased with Smith’s version and flooded the comment section of the video to share their praises. One user wrote, “Wow, she has now found her own voice️,” with others noting a similarity between Smith’s voice and Florence Welch’s (of Florence + Machine), known for tracks like “Dog Days Are Over” and “Shake It Out.”
“I just love the lyrics,” Smith said of “The Funeral,” according to NME. ”I love just the vibe that he’s giving on this song. It feels very like Billy Idol to me. I just love the vibe that [Yungblud] has. And I learned it on acoustic guitar a few months ago and was just like, ‘I really love that song, so why not do that?’”
Smith even let fans into her thought process for instrumentation of her performance. “I had to bring out the upright bass, y’know… give it a different vibe,” she said to NME. “Doing it in such a different way… it just fills my heart. I’m so happy.”
Smith didn’t stop with her performance of “The Funeral” — she also gave the crowd a performance of her powerful vocals with her recent single “Curious/Furious” from her forthcoming fifth album Coping Mechanism, which is set to arrive on Friday (Oct. 7).
Watch Willow cover Yungblud’s “The Funeral” in the video above, and “Curious/Furous” in the video below.
