Still, this is Simz at her most enjoyable, delivering everything that makes her distinct but with a welcome layer of polish. Less successful is Little Dragon-featuring Pressure, where barbed rapping, heavy drums and gentle piano chords feel at odds with one another. The album succeeds the Mercury Prize-nominated album Grey Area, released in 2019, and the five-track EP, Drop 6 (2020). Two years of intense touring followed, culminating in Simzs second album, 2017s Stillness in Wonderland, which alluded to her experiences in the music industry and her lifestyle on tour.
Over producer Inflo’s thin electronic beat that sounds like it was teased out of a hacked Gameboy, 101 FM evokes the star’s youth as she remembers growing up to the pirate radio stations that grooved London in the 00s. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is the fourth studio album by British rapper Little Simz, released on 3 September 2021 by Age 101 Music and AWAL. On the other end of the stylistic spectrum, the simple piano chords and sweet hook of Selfish forms a fresh slice of laidback lounge rap.Īs ever, Simz’s writing is sharp. The battering drums of Boss sees Simz at her most dissonant, while the fuzzy bassline and dramatic strings of Offence sound like they were captured from the grubbiest corner of the 70s soul canon.
Simz, in her familiar north London tone, raps over the kind of heavy, percussion-driven beats that Nas was leaning on a decade ago. On third album GREY Area, the deep-thinking rapper matches these indomitable strengths with a richer set of instrumentals and more adroit songcraft than before. It did not surprise me, therefore, that after years of growing artistry and popularity around the UK, Little Simz gained traction worldwide when the tantalizing lyrics from Venom off her 2019 album Grey Area went viral on TikTok: ‘Pussy, you sour, never giving credit where it’s due ‘cos you don’t like pussy in power. There’s plenty to admire about Little Simz but there hasn’t always been a lot to enjoy.