Label: AGE 101
Released: 3rd September 2021
Hearing the first few notes of an album and immediately knowing that you are about to listen to something beyond ground-breaking is a very rare experience. Yet, from the opening fanfare of Little Simz’ ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, there’s a resounding sense that what you’re about to hear is incomprehensibly enormous. It’s like dousing yourself in a bucket of cold water – you’re suddenly strikingly alert, goosebumps rapidly rising along your arms. You can’t help but stand to attention.
What Little Simz delivers is, exhilaratingly, beyond even those high expectations. The flourishing opener ‘Introvert’ is a battle cry: a striking, blazing announcement of Simz’s presence. The mysticality of the strings should be at odds with the immense power of brass but instead, it is completely magnetic. Her inimitable flow takes centre stage, despite the cinematic soundscape she creates. It’s electrifying.
‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ is a creative odyssey that only a mind as quick and introspective as Simz could have crafted. She reels in Emma Corrin to deliver a series of interludes, and though it does add a regality to the album, it is upon Simz’ head which the crown rests. From the blissfully soulful ‘How Did You Get Here’ to the delicious 80s synth of ‘Protect My Energy’, each track is complex and searing with wit. Simz’s talent is so pronounced it almost feels like a blow – it’s completely unparalleled.
This album is absolutely Little Simz’s magnum opus – it’s earth-shatteringly beyond what has come before, no easy feat considering her debut is one of the most revered of the past few years. It showcases a fascinating duplicity – chronicling the workings of an introvert whose rich inner world expands beyond most people’s imaginations. “Only the strong will survive,” warns Corrin at one point. ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ makes it unshakeably clear that Little Simz is the strongest we have.
