Jorja Smith: Walsall’s reluctant pop star needs no bells or whistles
“London made me stressed. It never felt like home,” Jorja Smith revealed in a recent interview with The Sunday Times about her time living in the capital. While that may be the case, the soul-pop RnB star certainly looked at home on stage at Troxy in the East End last night, on the final date of her sold-out tour.
The 26-year-old from Walsall has an uneasy relationship with fame. She moved to London at the age of 18 and, after only a couple of releases, she gained international recognition when Drake asked her to appear on his 2017 mixtape More Life. More hype followed for the Midlands youngster when she released her debut album Lost & Found in 2018 to critical acclaim, earning Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations and scooping two Brit Awards (Rising Star in 2018, and Best Female Solo Artist in 2019). Collaborations with the likes of Burna Boy and Stormzy have since cemented her status as one of Britain’s most exciting female artists, and a household name amongst young people.
Yet, despite all this, Smith has spoken out about her insecurities and how, more recently, her confidence has been knocked by relentless online trolling over her appearance.
On Friday night, though, any anxieties seemed to melt away once she greeted the 3,000-strong crowd with Try Me, the first track from her new album Falling or Flying. “Nothing is ever enough / I don’t have to tell you what I’ve changed,” she sang defiantly, addressing online criticism head-on to a pounding bass drum beat. It was a fitting way to kick off this celebration of her triumphant second album, a multi-genre output that proves she is capable of much more than the low-tempo RnB ballads that dominated her debut.
She has never been an artist who relies on over-the-top production or meaningless choreography, and this occasion was no different. Confident and relaxed in a casual sparkly tracksuit, her sensational voice was front and centre throughout, veering between sleek coolness and heartfelt vulnerability with ease.
Smith is that rare performer who is magnetic enough to carry an evening vocally without all the extra bells and whistles, merely floating from one side of the stage to the other and swishing her hips. There were points where her lack of movement did start to make things feel a bit static, but the songs – and her voice – saved it.
While this was a set dominated by numbers from her new album, she didn’t let her fans down. The loudest screams were reserved for her oldest tracks, Teenage Fantasy and Blue Lights. Even as the crowd whipped their phones out and almost overpowered her vocals, she kept it cool, nonchalantly flicking a lock of hair from her face. But it was during her club-ready anthems Little Things, Feelings and On My Mind that she really let her hair down and had everyone on their feet.
Smith has not yet achieved the superstar levels of fame enjoyed by other Brit Award Rising Star winners (think Adele, Sam Smith or Florence and the Machine). I’m not even sure she wants to. But if she does, it’s an ambition that could very well be within her reach.
No further UK dates
