About

Little Simz’s Lotus is the music-industry equivalent of a slash-and-burn harvest, where once-fertile land is razed and set ablaze, flooding the soil with nutrients. Simz started and scrapped four different full-length projects between Lotus and the release of NO THANK YOU in 2022. With new producer Miles Clinton James at the helm of Lotus, she puts her interpersonal issues on display with a sometimes deft touch; it’s a thorough excavation of the graveyard of one’s ego and closest relationships.

On past albums, Simz’s topical scope has been vast, with varying degrees of success: she hip-fired at the music industry’s exploitation of Black artistry on NO THANK YOU and probed her psyche on 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. Within those expansive arcs, the strongest moments were when Simz took aim at specific targets, whether external or internal. It’s that energy that makes the opener "Thief" an invigorating entry point. Her plainspoken, tempered tone pops with personality, making her strongest musings land with the impact of an exploding bullet.

James, who previously produced for the London-based band Kokoroko, handles all 13 tracks on Lotus. Largely forgoing the cinematic flair of Simz’s previous records, James surrounds her voice with unfussy arrangements that draw from jazz, afrobeat, and rock. It’s a difficult balance but they manage, more or less. What’s clear on Lotus is that Simz hasn’t closed herself off to the world. Cameos from Sampha, rapper Wretch 32, and Michael Kiwanuka (who has also worked closely with SAULT) raise the album’s ceiling, marking the welcome return of a collaborative ethos after NO THANK YOU. — (via Pitchfork)

↓
Label: AWAL Recordings Ltd 
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
Released: 2025
Genre: Hip Hop, Funk / Soul

File under: Hip Hop
⦿