Key Sentence:
- Following the release of Simz’s brilliant new album, Miha Fraser-Carroll explores.
- How the 27-year-old artist can no longer sound disoriented by a confusing industry.
Their use of samples looks pretty late in Kanye’s enlistment era, but their lyrics have explicitly told us, “I thought I was Kanye West / I saw blood on the leaves.” Some of his poems are comparable to Jay-Z’s. but on his latest album, GRAY Area, he assures us that he outperforms his lyrics: “I’m Jay-Z in a bad day / Shakespeare in a bad day.”
But this self-confidence makes Little Simz (known as Simbi Ajikawo by family and friends) so attractive as an artist. He knows how loud the music is and tells anyone who asks. In an interview with the Evening Standard last month, he thoughtfully stated, “To be honest, with all due respect, I think I’m very, very talented.”
The 27-year-old started playing at a young age and appeared at the local youth club Freestyle at nine. In the years that followed, the rapper gained a cult following and found himself on the watchlist charts for most of the last decade.
But only Area GRAY, which brought up the topic of a fourth life crisis with great orchestral production, ended up gaining widespread acclaim from the artist. Sometimes, being an introvert will undoubtedly cement their self-proclaimed position among the genre’s greats.
Produced by Info, a childhood friend, SIMBI re-introduces the dark symphony orchestra that we hear in the GRAY area. It’s even more vital on this note; full of works with galvanized harps and dramatic choruses that set the tone somewhere between opera and a James Bond film. On the other hand, Sims is sharp when it comes to topics that are more introspective and expansive than ever.
Not surprisingly, theme of introversion is a central theme throughout the album.
Most celebrities don’t hide behind extroverted masks made for interviews and public appearances or create complex alternative egos to hide their shyness, like Sasha Fiers or Sia. Not so much for Sims: Although he admits to using a stage name (“The Sims the Artist or Simply the Man?” he asks in the deeply disturbing song “Introvert”), he brought himself to this album.
Sims introduces himself to the world, exhibiting the constant tension and tug-of-war between his trademark bravado and his inner neurosis that always lurks in the shadows. In “Introvert,” he tells us: “One day I am speechless, the next day fluent / I am close to success, but I am furthest from happiness.” Your company, the text sounds intuitive: “Don’t call me / I don’t want to talk / I have a problem / But I don’t * I’m getting weaker.”