During a new conversation with Apple Music, Jaden Smith revealed why he was going to drop “Smith” from his stage name, at least when it comes to his career as a musician. This past year, Jaden chose to change things up when he dropped his last name from his title.
He never told anyone about it publicly and kept it under the radar, however, during a new conversation with Apple Music and Zane Lowe, he explained his choice. Jaden said he felt inspired by his sister’s name change a few years prior.
Smith claims he looked her up on Wikipedia and saw her name was just “Willow,” and he thought to himself right away, “yo, that’s so strong.” Jaden went on to explain how he felt as if Willow had the strength to just be on her own, and not rely on the last name.
According to the performing artist, he likes to create different names for himself. It’s one of the reasons why he loves David Bowie so much. Jaden claims there is “Jaden,” which is for music, and then there is “Jaden Smith,” which is “501(c)(3)” and movies.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CDKVYM0D2lI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading[/embed]It’s clear Jaden has a lot of respect for his little sister. Earlier this year, Jaden came to bat for Willow after her likeness was inadvertently brought into the headlines through Shane Dawson, the YouTuber, who joked at her expense in an old YouTube video.
In case you missed, Shane jokingly expressed sexual interest about an 11-year-old Willow Smith. Not long after, Shane came under fire from the mainstream media as well as people on social media.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow’s mother, and Jaden criticized the YouTuber on their respective social media accounts. For instance, Jada wrote on her account, “no excuses,” after Shane came out with a YouTube video with the same title.
Furthermore, Jaden addressed the controversy on his social media as well when he claimed it wasn’t funny to joke about his sister in a sexual way, especially considering she was just 11-years-old at the time.