''Ardipithecus'' is the debut studio album by American singer

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

. It was released on December 11, 2015 through

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and has additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation comprises a comprehensive talent agency, sports agency, record label, mana ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. Willow is credited as sole songwriter on 11 tracks, and sole producer on 10 of them. The album also features contributions from Willow's brother Trey Smith, under the moniker AcE, and frequent collaborator Jabs. The track "F Q-C #8" was released as a single on May 7, 2015, with an accompanying music video. A video to the track "Why Don't You Cry" was also released. The album takes its name from the genus of an extinct

hominine Homininae (), also called "African hominids" or "African apes", is a subfamily of Hominidae. It includes two tribes, with their extant as well as extinct species: 1) the tribe Hominini (with the genus ''Homo'' including modern humans and numerou ...

of the same name.

Background

In an e-mail interview with Fader, Willow explained the name choice:

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 51, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 5 reviews. Among these reviews, not one was positive. ''

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'' critic Adam Kivel described the album as "impenetrable, even distancing." Kivel further wrote: "The album is a headscratcher, one that shows plenty of promise but also a personality abstruse to the point of mystification." Criticizing the album's musical simplicity and lyrics, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Ben Ratliff called the album as "essentially a

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

record released by Roc Nation." ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' critic Kevin Ritchie regarded that ''Ardipithecus'' "undercooked production" as "a serious limitation." Ritchie further stated that the record "could've been distinctive but instead lacks depth or the transporting quality of her imaginative lyrics." Frank Farisi of ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

'' thought: "So much of listening to ''Ardipithecus'' feels immeasurable by good or bad." and concluded that the album "fails as a pop record, because it's barely aware that it's a part of that conversation."

Track listing

Notes * "Drugz" is stylized "dRuGz". * "Randomsong" is stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

. * "Ur Town" is stylized "UR Town".

Personnel

– vocals, production * Jabs – vocals, production * AcE – production * Mel "Chaos" Lewis – production * James Chul Rim – production, recording, mixing

Charts

References

External links

Willow Smith
on

{{Authority control 2015 debut albums Roc Nation albums Willow Smith albums Experimental pop albums Neo soul albums