Willow Smith quietly drops debut album, 'Ardipithecus'

If her social media activity is any indication, Willow Smith doesn’t speak (or tweet) unless she has something compelling to share. Accordingly, Willow’s cryptic tweets about Dec. 11 seemed to signal that something was on the horizon — and the release of her freshman album, Ardipithecus, Friday morning confirmed as much.

“Ardipithecus Ramidus is the scientific name of the first hominid bones found on earth," the 15-year-old said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. "I wanted to name my musical compilation after it because, while I was making these songs I was in such a transitional state. Digging deep in 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…”

Willow independently wrote and produced most of the 15 tracks on Ardipithecus, but the credits list friend and frequent collaborator JABS as a feature on two tracks, and older brother Trey Smith (a.k.a AcE) as co-producer on three tracks.

Ardipithecus is currently available on iTunes as well as Spotify.