FEATURE:
Modern-Day Queens
that I first covered years ago. The amazing Jorja Smith is someone that I was keen to feature for this Modern-Day Queens. This year, she has been a featured artist on a couple of singles. Come with Me is by Major League Djz. She is also on Crush for AJ Tracy. Her latest album, falling or flying, was released in 2023. I wonder if we will get another album from Jorja Smith this year. One of the best artists out there, she has a voice like no one else’s. I want to finish off with a recent interview from British Vogue. Before I get there, there are some older interviews that are worth bringing in so that we get to know more about Smith. I am starting out with an interview from last year from Numéro. That is when Jorja Smith released falling or flying (Reimagined). This is a jazzier version of the original album. Smith discussed that, the “chaos that surrounds us, her return to her hometown and the weight of judgments” – and helping people feel less alone:
“She has been compared to Lauryn Hill and to her idol Amy Winehouse, and she admires Alicia Keys and Rihanna. But make no mistake, Jorja Smith is like no other. Since her smashing debut in 2016 with the single Blue Lights, a moving anthem against police violence, the 26-year-old English singer has imprinted her sensual, soulful voice, her authenticity and her beautiful face on R’n’B music at a global scale. After a splendid debut album, Lost & Found, which quickly found its audience, and collaborations with Drake, Burna Boy, Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy and Kali Uchis, the artist has now opened a new chapter in her already very busy life.
In September 2023, the woman who has walked for Marine Serre and posed as Dior’s make-up ambassador released Falling or Flying, a languorous and daring record about love and “baring your soul in a very critical world, when (you’ve) always been (your) first critic”, set against a backdrop of pop, house, rock and R’n’B. As she released Falling of Flying (Reimagined), a re-recorded version of her latest album, Numéro met this powerful yet vulnerable Gen Z icon, followed by almost 4 million fans on Instagram, for an intimate interview.
Numéro: Why did you choose to title your new album Falling or Flying?
Jorja Smith: There’s a song on the album called Falling or Flying, but the name of the album has nothing to do with that song. It came out of a conversation with one of my best friends. I was telling her how I was feeling, explaining that I didn’t know whether I was falling or flying. It’s a feeling that emerged almost three years ago, and I started to create that album around that time. I couldn’t tell whether or not I was doing well, whether I was happy or sad, whether I was losing or winning. The ones who know me well know that I’ve never really found myself in that in-between. I’m either one thing or the other. For instance, I’m either obsessed with something, or can’t focus at all. The title also represents the album, because when you listen to it, it flies, then falls, then topples over again, like a rollercoaster. So listening to it might make you want to laugh and cry at the same time.
How did this album come about?
This is the first time I’ve started an album almost from scratch. I only had about three songs already written. I created this record with my producer friends from the duo DameDame in a quite free and organic way, with no deadlines. I’ve known one of the members since I was 15. We just got together and had fun. We ate, talked and spontaneously wrote songs. Lost & Found, the first album I released in 2018 was imagined very differently, as a collection of songs that I had already performed on stage and wrote between the ages of 16 and 18. I started singing at a very young age, especially in front of an audience, without necessarily wanting to become famous for it.
In 2021, you left London, where you had been living for a while, and decided to move back to your hometown, Walsall, in the West Midlands, 150 miles away from the British capital… I moved to London when I was 18. I just wanted to explore, get out and experience life. I thought that I needed to be in a big city to do music. A lot of my friends also moved to London, so I wasn’t alone there. I made new friends too. Then everything ramped up very quickly with the release of Blue Lights in 2018 on streaming platforms. I went on tour, so I was away from my apartment for quite a while, always busy and moving at a frantic pace. In 2020, the covid pandemic happened and I spent the lockdown in London. At that point, I think that I associated very negative feelings with the city. So I felt the need to go back home, where I grew up. Anyway, home had been calling me back for ages.
You missed your hometown…
Yes, I really missed home. Now that I’m back, I feel like I have a new-found balance. I feel less stressed about not releasing new music at a rapid pace. This is my home, so I don’t feel anxious or nervous. I don’t know if it was because of the constant noise, or the fact that I couldn’t see the sky, but I felt a lot of pressure when living in London. I love London and I love everything it has given me. I love spending the night out when I’m there. But working with my friends from DameDame took me back to my teenage years, and reconnected me with my younger self. I remembered who I used to be before I moved to London. I used to play the piano all the time, go for walks alone or with my dog. I’ve taken up the piano again since I came back. Life is slower here. Everything’s calmer. Everyone knows everyone else.
What message are you trying to convey through your music?
I just want my music to exist so that people who listen to it can feel something, whether it’s joy, nostalgia or the desire to change something in their lives, and maybe feel what I’ve experienced too. Since I started out, I’ve just wanted to take people on a journey with my songs, whether they’re thinking about their present, past, future, or want to send that song to someone because they feel it will help them have a good day or get through a difficult situation. I’ve already found myself in a situation where I would play my music in front of someone who wasn’t a fan, and wasn’t really listening to me. Then that person changed their mind and said, “Oh my God, you’re talking to me now.” I hope I can connect with people that way”.
I am going to move on to an interview with Vogue HK from last year. Jorja Smith spoke about returning to where it all began for her and not overthinking things. I am really interested in hearing and seeing what comes next. A simply stunning artist who is always captivating and memorable, if you have not discovered Smith then follow her on Instagram. I have been a fan for a very long time and will be for years more:
“For almost a decade, Smith’s face has been ubiquitous: magazine covers, billboards, phone screens…and her voice has boomed from radios and music platforms everywhere. The Grammy-nominated R&B artist and Brits Awards winner first blew up on Soundcloud as a high-schooler with her single “Blue Lights“, leading to collaborations with music giants like Kendrick Lamar, and a successful Lost & Found album which debuted at No.3 on the UK Albums Chart and No.1 on the UK R&B Chart. Her honest lyrics have chronicled her growth throughout the years, speaking to listeners as if they were her trusted confidants. “My safe space is in my music, and that’s where I like to just be myself,” Smith revealed.
Yet in this age of heightened access where Instagram reels can relive a person’s whole day (from their “9-6 after their 6-9”), and where revealing far too many details on Threads has become the norm, Smith has taken a step back.“I’ve got a weird relationship with social media, a bit of a love-hate relationship because it’s a lot,” Smith said, “I think it can be an amazing place. That’s how I got discovered, because of being on Soundcloud, but I just think it’s intense and I’m still trying to navigate my way around it and get back on there a bit.”
At the same time, she’s traded the bustle of London living for the relative calmness of the West Midlands where her hometown Walsall is. “I felt like London was great, but where I began creating was home,” Smith explained. “I think I’ve needed to come back home for years. I just feel more myself, a bit more grounded.” At home, she’s planning to build a studio and has returned to playing on the keys — something she always used to do as a teenager before moving to London. And as though reconnecting with her inner child, Smith started Blue Lights, an all-girls choir in Walsall.
“Hopefully when I finish this tour, I can get back to seeing the girls, and I want to have them play with me at a show or something which will be really good,” Smith beamed like a proud older sister, “But they’re loving it. They’ve been doing loads of pop performances here and there, and it’s just great because I never had this when I was younger.”
Speaking with an unbridled enthusiasm that might be akin to flying, the “Falling Or Flying” singer spoke of fellow artists like she wasn’t a global sensation herself. When asked about an artist she would love to perform for, she said Frank Ocean in a heartbeat, “I love him so much, I’d love to work with him.” Then, she named Adele as the person she would love to perform for, “I love Adele. I want to go to her show and I’d like to invite her to mine,” Smith confessed.
And with the same conviction, she shared the most valuable lesson she has learnt in her 20’s so far. “I’ve realised I don’t owe anybody anything,” Smith said, “I used to be such a people pleaser, and only as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised not everybody deserves your energy or time and to try and protect that.”
She continued, “I don’t overthink as much, and that’s something that has come with age. I’m still young, I’m still 27, but I think I’m really proud that I don’t overthink so much, because I’d be worried about absolutely everything, like too many things to name”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mel Bles
I am going to end with a recent interview from British Vogue. This is a new phase of Jorja Smith’s career. She has a string of tour dates coming up. Even though she has moved out of London, that has not affected her popularity and visibility. Her sheer talent overcomes that disadvantage some feel about being away from the capital. It seems like Jorja Smith is more settled and happier than she has ever been. Let’s hope that this continues:
“Still, somehow, only 27 years old, Smith is nearing almost a decade in the music industry. She was 18 when she uploaded her debut track, “Blue Lights”, to SoundCloud, an urgent ballad that felt both modern and instantly classic, full of mournful keys and raw, jazz-infused vocals which told a cinematic tale of inner-city turmoil. Overnight, she became not just a name to know, but a defining voice in a new generation of contemporary soul.
Her debut album Lost & Found was both Mercury-nominated and won her two Brit Awards and, by 22, she’d cemented her star status. It was only in the lead up to her second album, Falling or Flying, in 2023, that the attention took its toll. In press mode for the release, suddenly every public appearance Smith made was greeted with debate over her body, her looks, her skin. Cruel tweets and commentary on every live show surfaced. Even those who supported Smith, added to the noise so that, at one point, “Jorja Smith weight gain” was trending on Twitter, now X, for two days straight.
It not only showed just how narrow and fickle our society’s definition of beauty is – especially when it comes to women of colour – but revealed how many still hold “hotness” as the most important thing a woman has to offer, above their talent or their art. Even when that art is exceptional.
“It did really get to me at a certain point,” she exhales, chewing a nail, “because I felt really happy. That was the maddest thing. I was eating better – sometimes I’ve not been very good at [not] missing meals, being too busy, being a bit too focused on the gym, a bit too obsessed with how I look… So I was quite happy and then suddenly I’ve got people talking about: ‘What happened to her, she’s let herself go, she’s out of her prime, she’s this, this, this.’”
Beyond a new ease in her style, a fundamental ground shift has occurred for Smith. On “High”, her first single back last year, she asked: “Where do you run if you can’t?” For Smith, the answer was simple: home to Walsall, the West Midlands town just north of Birmingham. Inspired by a friendship breakup and reconnection, the track flows almost like a voicenote. When she sings, “I went to find myself, I couldn’t take you there”, it feels like she’s addressing something deeper. “I can’t lie, I didn’t think me moving back home would be such a big thing,” she says, laughing. When she made the move from London in 2023 it became a news story in itself, people seemingly incredulous that a star might choose to live somewhere other than the capital. “I’m from Walsall, and I’ve gone back home,” she shrugs. “That’s it.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Mel Bles
She has chosen a home town date in Wolverhampton to kick off her upcoming tour in May, which will be followed by two London shows and dates in Europe, North and South America. After we meet, she releases a new single, “Crush”, with AJ Tracey, which sees her try her hand at a sprinkle of rapping, over a beat that feels like it’s lifted directly from the Channel U era. (Days later, her Black Country accent goes viral on TikTok, with thousands of viewers around the world lipsyncing to her playfully rounded vowels.) A joyous performance at the Brits, where she was nominated in the best R&B category, with Mercury winners Ezra Collective, was proof of just how pleased she is to be back where she belongs.
“When I was in the studio and he played me the song, it just took me back. It’s proper nostalgic,” she smiles. She connects to my Bluetooth headphones to play me the two songs she’s working on right now, written with Maverick Sabre and producer Ed Thomas. Even in their nascent stage, I’m transported. The lyrics are brooding, her vocals that signature rich blend, over a Y2K-tinged breakbeat. “I used to come up to London when I was 15, in the summer holidays and work with Mav and Ed and it just felt like that. They were the first people I ever wrote with.” Playing the next one, she says, “This reminds me of a sunrise and a sunset at the same time.”
Even if Smith doesn’t get the big deal about leaving London, when I ask how she’s gotten closer to the peace she’s after, it dawns on her that the biggest catalyst has been her move. “Maybe moving back did have a big impact on me, I think it did,” she pauses. “Even my mum says to me, ‘You look like your old self.’ She texted me that and I thought it’s kind of sad and really sweet.”
She’s protective of her privacy now – be it familial or romantic – and says she now fills her time with stillness and play; writing songs at the piano and going on long countryside walks like she did when she was younger. “I like getting lost,” she says with a smile. “Phone’s dead, off-track, but I’ll find my way back eventually.”
The circular nature of life is not lost on her; of connecting with baby Jorja, returning to where she began, musically, emotionally, geographically. “I’m still her,” she smiles. “I said to my manager the other day, when we were talking about putting new tunes out: ‘Can we just pretend we’re starting again?’” She starts to gather her things, raising her hood in preparation to weave through the busy hotel lobby, back out into the sunshine of the Strand before it disappears. “I think I’ll always be falling or flying,” she says, borrowing from her album title. “But at the moment, [I’m] flying. I’ve been flying for quite a bit”.
I am going to include many other phenomenal women in this Modern Queens feature. Jorja Smith is someone I have always loved. A pure and jaw-dropping talent who I can see putting out music for many years more, I would advise everyone to follow her closely. Such a treasure in the music industry who is inspiring so many other people. As she said in that British Vogue interview: though she feels she is always falling or flying, at this moment, she is…
DEFINITELY flying!