PHOTOS: Jaden and Willow Smith bring contrasting styles to The Warfield

Jaden Smith, Willow Smith, WILLOW

Jaden and Willow Smith perform at The Warfield in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello.

SAN FRANCISCO — Jaden and Willow Smith, the artist offspring of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, played at The Warfield Tuesday on the penultimate night of the month-long WILLOW and ERYS Tour.

Jaden Smith opened his performance with the first four tracks from 2019 album ERYS, in order: “P,” “I,” “N” and “K.” Willow joined him on several songs. He kept the tempo high with “Ghost,” from the same album and “Fallen,” a cut from 2017’s Syre.

Jaden, Jaden smith

Jaden Smith performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 2019.

He bounced around the stage during newer song “Again,” Syre’s, “Lost Boy” and “Batman,” and the trap triplets of 2018 single “GOKU.” Screen projections flashed behind him while fog covered the stage. Jaden Smith continued to hop between albums, throwing in songs from 2018’s The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Story, such as “Watch Me,” “SOHO” and “Plastic.” Though A$AP Rocky wasn’t in the building, he performed “Chateau, which Smith originally recorded with the rapper.

The 21-year-old concluded with “Summertime in Paris.”

That same song was what his sister started with earlier in the evening. Willow Smith was the yin to her brother’s yang. The artist, whose performance was difficult to categorize, began on the aforementioned “Summertime in Paris.” After she hugged her brother and he left the stage, she took full control with songs from her her 2019 album, WILLOW. She performed the songs in order from beginning to end.



Relatively mellower than her brother’s songs, they were still diverse within their own framework.

WILLOW

Willow Smith performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 2019.

“Like a Bird” had a bedroom pop vibe and was followed by the acoustic “Female Energy Pt.2,” with Willow Smith playing guitar.

“Time Machine” oscillated between an enormous spectrum of rhythms and sounds while flowing organically.

The youngest of the Smith siblings had an incredible flow on stage on “Pretty Girlz,” “Same is Now” and “Then,” which, just like on the album, served as an interlude to the explorative “U Know.” Her brother returned to the stage for the latter, which included triplets and percussion that complemented the dreamy melodies.

She transitioned easily from danceable rhythms to balladry. On “IDK,” from 2015’s ARDIPITHECUS, she jumped into the R&B sound of “PCH,” before concluding with “Female Energy Pt.1” and “Wait a Minute!”



¿Téo?

¿Téo? performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 2019.

¿Téo? preceded the Smiths with what he called “Neo-American” songs, a blend of Bossa-Nova, R&B, hip-hop and even classical music. The Colombian-American artist’s songs carried a Latin essence in every melody on “Uno Dos” and “Thru my Hair,” both from his 2018 self-titled album; “No Pares!”, and his most recent single, “Américano.”

Tyler Cole, the co-producer of Willow and Jaden Smith’s most recent albums, opened the show with songs from his 2017 album, We’re in Love & the World Is Ending, such as “Bones,” most recent single “Skeleton” and an unreleased song called “Unfollow.” The latter cut featured more eclectic trap sounds rather than the earlier mellower material.

 

Follow photographer Joaquin Cabello at Instagram.com/joaquinxcabello.

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *