The Thread

Throughout her career, WILLOW has exploded boundaries between genres and styles, creating a discography that’s full of left turns. With her second album of 2026, she pushes herself into new lyrical territory; <i>The Thread</i>, she’s said, is an album of devotionals, interrogations of the spiritual world and her spiritual self. WILLOW’s risk-taking is well-suited to this concept; her musical leaps of faith are well-matched to the reaching toward the divine that she sings about. Opening with <b>“She’s My Religion”</b>, a propulsive track where an acoustic guitar and a choir’s gasps complement the forceful percussion, <i>The Thread</i> finds WILLOW and producer Chris Greatti (who also worked on 2022’s <i><COPINGMECHANISM></i> and 2024’s <i>empathogen</i>) experimenting with sound and structure. On the title track, sprightly verses open up into a giant chorus that has the anthemic feel of WILLOW’s more rock-oriented work before the music drops out, putting WILLOW’s acrobatic voice on full display. <b>“Talk on the Hill”</b> balances on a strutting groove and insistent guitars, with WILLOW occasionally arcing her voice into the top of its upper register; the excitedly curious <b>“Crush on Eternity”</b> veers between crashing alt-rock and stacked vocals that are nearly unadorned. <b>“The Present Moment”</b>, where her vocals dart around a firm beat and flinty guitars, underlines her message of searching for community and compassion. “We don’t got a lot of time, yeah/This is why I can’t take it lightly,” she sings in a speedy fashion. Over the course of her career, WILLOW has balanced the playful with the serious, resulting in a singular body of work that’s as unpredictable as it is exhilarating—and <i>The Thread</i> is another example of her ever-evolving artistry.