Little Simz : Lotus
Nothing in this life is promised, our next day is never guaranteed. This existential burden looms over our health broadly, but the reality is that anything can butterfly-effect anything else, choices and actions changing or eliminating our play, our work, our daily mundanities. Outside forces and internal conflicts came close to pushing British musician Simbi Ajikawo away from the art she loved to make as Little Simz. Fortunately, she chose instead to let those inform that art, ultimately allowing her to declare more independence on her sixth studio album, Lotus.
Now working with Kokoroko producer Miles Clinton James, this LP shows Little Simz’s versatility blooming against a constantly shifting stream of styles. Lotus finds Simz skillfully balancing between grime and backpack rap in rhymes that feel like they increase in complexity as the album progresses, highlighted by “Blood,” a hella smart duet-as-phone-call performed with Wretch 32. The album leans heavily on soul and jazz inflections helped out by the likes of Michael Kiwanuka, Moses Sumney, and Nigerian pop singer Obongjayar. And there are even credible sonic references to NYC dance-punk in “Enough” and muted Afrobeat in “Lion.”
The album’s opening trio of tracks—”Thief,” “Flood,” “Young”—sound raw on so many levels that they could pass as either the soundtrack or dialogue from a Guy Ritchie film. Afterwards, Lotus feels sequenced so the remaining songs are paired off to cover similar themes. “Lion” and “Enough,” for example, talk about respect as a function of loyalty and time, respectively. “Free” and “Only” suggest the search for love in all its forms, the former including one of the album’s callbacks to The Notorious B.I.G. Meanwhile, “Blood” and the epic soul-jam title track address the quest for personal development: “If self-love means putting me first/It’s the greatest love story on earth.”
That story’s been pretty dramatic for Little Simz lately. A significant portion of Lotus’ songs and overall energy rests on emotions and consequences from her legal battle with former longtime producer Inflo, whom she accused of defaulting on a loan he used primarily for the lone live show of his band SAULT. Feeling betrayed creatively and professionally, Little Simz started and stopped developing albums for years and contemplated leaving music altogether. That she finally corralled her experience into something so fulfilling might be a minor miracle to her, but sounds to us like it just comes naturally.
Label: AWAL
Year: 2025
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Little Simz : Lotus
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