Follow Jorja Smith via Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | iTunes | YouTube

Jmoney is here to stay. The 21 year old from Walsall is on her way to global status; after being scouted at the age of 15 posting covers on YouTube, we can see just how much Jorja has undergone a meteoric rise in such a short space of time. From working as a barista in Starbucks, to collaborating with big artists such as Drake, Preditah and Stormzy, Jorja continues to rise displaying her unique versatility to fuse between R&B, grime, garage, trip-hop and pop, all navigated at her dispense. Moving on from her first EP Project 11 to Lost & Found her debut album, she demonstates exactly why she deserved to win the AIM award for ‘UK Breakthrough of the Year’ emerging as a bold new voice.

In her current Lost & Found tour, she has travelled all over the United Kingdom where lucky fans were able to experience her presence. At her second headline show in Bristol, Jorja outdid herself performing an array of songs including the whole Lost & Found album (girl went all out), her ground-breaking collaboration ‘Let Me Down’ with Stormzy, an exclusive performance of ‘Reason In Disguise‘ with Ezra Collective, her well known Black Panther anthem, ‘I Am’ co-written with Kendrick Lamar and finally finishing with a hybrid acoustic and electronic version of ‘On My Mind’.

Upon entrance to the stage, wearing a sheer mesh dress and her hair braided back, she was welcomed to cheers of happiness in which she responded with a smile and a hair flip before getting into her first song ‘Lost & Found’.  A subtle note change moves us into the beginning of the song making the introduction that even more angelic in the audience.  Jorja first wrote this song when she was 15 years old where she was in a state of lost when initially moving to London, but eventually found herself while adapting to her situations. Jorja’s elation throughout was something else, projecting the maturing of her voice between the soulful, R&B vibes of the song.

Transitioning into ‘Teenage Fantasy’ one of Jorja’s earlier released songs of the album, we get the cinematic vibes that came from the music video. The production on the track begins with a recording of Jorja humming when she was baby-sitting at 16 years old. The lyrics see her questioning romantic decisions: “I was told by my mother, if I look into the future, do I really see this boy, that I think I’ve fallen for?” By including the humming sample, we feel her nostalgic memories at the time of writing this song which offers us a raw and rustic view of her teenage fantasy. We have all met someone and thought “you weren’t the [boy] I thought I knew”, thus this song completely hits every person in the audience who is at awe with Jorja, singing every lyric back to her.  With the blue lighting projecting down onto the stage we really get an intimate experience as fans. You can see just how passionate she is at portraying the message that when we are young we all want love and to feel happiness in a relationship, but in reality we have to find ourselves before entering such fantasies.

In between songs Jorja’s charisma shines through. She succinctly describes every emotion behind the writing process of each song demonstrating that her songs are not just stories manufactured, but instead showcase a multidimensional exploration of the aching human heart in its most honest form. Jorja captivated the evening through her soft gaze, making every person in the room feel a symbolic attachment towards her. She creates such a spectacle leaving the audience to ponder exactly what she is thinking amid every single song. Through the high notes in ‘Something In The Way’,  ‘February 3^rd’ and ‘Goodbyes’ we see how passionate and emotionally engaged she is in performing her music.

Exclusively for her Lost & Found tour Jorja brought out special guests and friends       Ezra Collective, a notable group in the burgeoning jazz scene of London to perform their debut single ‘Reason In Disguise’ together. The collaboration came with ease as Femi Koleoso of the group is in fact Jorja’s live drummer, thus the results display their modern edge on jazz music with both artists effortlessly complimenting one another.

Stream ‘Reason In Disguise’ via Spotify | iTunes

Follow Ezra Collective via Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Once leaving the stage Jorja praises and thanks Ezra Collective for coming to her show. Multiple times throughout her set Jorja shows her humble side and her appreciate of where she is now. “I want to say thank you again to my amazing band, I really am lucky to travel with them”. Not only in her music but in person we see the purity within her, making the artistry that even more symbolic.

During the songs Blue Lights and Lifeboats we see Jorja tackles important socio-political issues that relate directly to her personal life. It is this insight and curiosity that further elevates her work. It is no wonder when these songs are performed live that it creates such a comfortable and uplifting space for everyone. ‘Blue lights’ confronts the heart-breaking take on police brutality and racial profiling that still takes place today in our society, highlighting the importance of such storytelling. The questions are posed at the justice system, stating “there’s no need to run, if you’ve done nothing wrong, blue lights should just pass you by”. But in effect colourism and racial profiling still falls into the cracks of the justice system.

With ‘Lifeboats’ we see Jorja explore the unequal disparities to privilege and income while focusing the spotlight on the failures within the welfare state. Her spoken-like-rant makes her a worthy TED Talks candidate painting such an honest picture of the British political system.  These pictures are brought to life when Jorja performs live. Amid her performance you can tell just how emotional she is about the lyrics, and how much she wants to make an active difference about the marginalisation of certain citizens. “So why are all the riches staying afloat? See all my brothers drowning even though they’re in the boat, mothership ain’t helping anyone”. The track is an anecdote of life explaining how people drown in their own thoughts and difficulties. The lifeboats represent a metaphor in how to escape from this, which climaxes the reflexivity of our own personal lives.

Video creds: Stelios Kapnisis

After her loud encore from the audience, Jorja returned to sing her last few songs. A stand out was ‘Don’t Watch Me Cry’ where I’m pretty sure she watched a lot of her audience cry. From the dimmed lighting on the singer, to the acoustic take on the sound we really got a cinematic aspect from the song. What made her performance unique was how relaxed she appeared to be. The staging throughout her set illustrates the importance of her singing, rather than overly dancing or complicating the visuals, the pinnacle was on Jorja and the mic. This emphasised her voice as the stand alone marker, the centre of the room. Upon the last verse an acapella version commenced which gave the audience the opportunity to finish the song back to Jorja showing the intimate bond the singer-songwriter and her fans have for one another.  An air of melancholy surrounded the room during this performance.

The entire image Jorja creates through her music, socio-political involvement and her performance in Bristol really captures how much of a journey she has been on over the last few years. Overall a flawless performance by Jorja Smith.

Essential tracks: Teenage Fantasy, Lifeboats, Wandering Romance, Dont Watch Me Cry and February 3rd.

Written by Nicole Horwood / Twitter: @Whorewoods