Willow Smith, child of Hollywood legends Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, celebrated this year’s Janmashtami in an intimate way. The 23-year-old singer and actress shared that she appears on Govinda Nights, a devotional song by artist Londrelle, which dropped to coincide with the Hindu celebration commemorating Lord Krishna’s birth.
Willow Smith Celebrates Janmashtami
In a sequence of photographs on Instagram, Willow shared with her followers an intimate glimpse of her Janmashtami experience. In one photo, she is seen doing aarti, a ritual Hindu prayer using lamps, at an ISKCON temple. In others, she is pictured with a scarf, a Vaishnav tilak on the forehead, a chanting bead bag in her hand, and standing respectfully before a Radha–Krishna idol.
She also posted videos of herself playing a guitar and chanting, implying a mix of contemporary music and old spiritual ritual. Willow mentioned in one of the slides how sound can be seen as vibration and how some “patterns” convey spiritual significance, something she’s been investigating through music and meditation. The post concluded with the cover of Govinda Nights, the devotional album that she was a part of.
This isn’t a new venture for Willow in spiritual music. She previously collaborated with British kirtan musician Jahnavi Harrison on Sanskrit mantra recordings such as the R I S E EP and single Surrender (Krishna Keshava). The pair met at a kirtan concert hosted by author and podcast host Jay Shetty, which led to a devotional and creative collaboration.
Although Willow seems to be incorporating Hindu traditions with genuineness, her family’s religious heritage is more diverse. Will Smith has frequently claimed that he steers clear of religious affiliations, and Jada Pinkett Smith has talked about learning from Scientology teachings without becoming a member of the church.
Willow’s spiritual posts also follow a more vulnerable moment she shared recently, a tearful selfie with an emotional caption that left fans divided between concern and support. The artist, who came out as bisexual in 2019 and publicly discussed being polyamorous in 2021, has often used her platforms to speak about identity, emotional wellbeing and alternative paths to connection.