Latest news with #SimbiatuAjikawo
ABC News
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Little Simz — Lotus
The resilient lotus flower, which seeks light and blossoms out of muddy waters, carries heavy religious symbolism. The allegory to Lotus , Little Simz' stellar sixth album, is obvious. The artisanal British rapper has gone through a tumultuous period yet emerged with music that transforms trauma into triumph. Lotus comes roaring out the gate with 'Thief', a scathing diss track aimed at childhood friend and long-term producer Inflo, accusing him of "financial [and] emotional exploitation." In March, Simz sued Inflo (real name Dean Cover) over an alleged £1.7million (AU$3.5m) in unpaid loans. Over a murky arrangement of stalking bass, horror movie strings and spaghetti western guitars, Simz snarls: " I'm lucky that I got out now / It's a shame, I really feel sorry for your wife … This person I've known my whole life, coming like a devil in disguise .' Penultimate track 'Lonely' offers a more pensive take on the relationship breakdown. Simz confesses ' I was lonely making an album, attempted it four times' , leading to a crisis of confidence where she nearly called quits on her music career. ' Tryna make an album means baring your whole truth/unpacking the f**kery I'm trying to heal through,' she laments over smoky piano and backing that's as spare as 'Thief' is fiery. The demise of such a crucial creative partnership would tank most artists. But Simbiatu Ajikawo is absolutely not most artists. Across the record's 13 tracks she sounds as commanding as ever, tapping her full toolkit — devilishly smart bars and devastatingly honest lyricism; a thoughtful approach to mixing sounds and genres — to re-assert her artistry. Helping exercise her demons is new producer Miles Cinton James, who wrangles everything from swooning orchestras to funky ensembles for instrumentals that span rock ('Flood'), jazzy neo-soul ('Free'), acoustics ('Peace'), Afrobeat, bossa nova and beyond. Also on hand is an impressive cast of guests, including Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano, the tender-voiced Sampha, and Obongjayar — the Nigerian-born, London-based polymath enhancing the thudding 'Flood' and swaggering stand-out 'Lion'. 'We don't care for what they say, that's my superpower' he boasts casually on Simz' behalf on the latter against a smooth, West African-inflected groove that's diabolically catchy. The brilliant Michael Kiwanuka is a soulful ballast to Simz' bite on the title track, a sprawling epic that allows breathing room for acclaimed jazz drummer Yussef Dayes to strut his stuff. Another raw highlight is 'Blood', a back-and-forth with British rapper Wretch 32 that plays out as an arresting, authentic conversation between frustrated siblings. It proves Simz is a master of the storytelling craft as much as revered MCs like Kendrick Lamar and Dave It isn't all so serious, though. The slinky 'Only' and toy-piano-and-bass-charged 'Enough' engage with playful braggadocio. Meanwhile, the tongue-in-cheek 'Young' sounds like it escaped from The Streets' discography, Simz adopting a rich-kid persona to skewer class disparity. Each track on Lotus stands tall in isolation, but taken together it results in a rewarding listening experience that's balanced between 2021's dense, Mercury Prize winning Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and the tough urgency of its surprise follow-up, 2022's No Thank You . Though Lotus was born from grief, anger, self-doubt, and burnout, Simz sounds like an elite athlete recovering from an injury that's only briefly affected her game. It marks a major turning point in her career but is less a rebirth and more an evolution, a re-affirmation of Little Simz's legacy as one of hip hop's all-time greats.
Telegraph
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Little Simz, Lotus: an existential crisis never sounded so gripping
There is nothing fragrant nor floral about Lotus, the sixth album from Britain's most gifted rapper, Little Simz. Veering wildly between defiance and introspection, the overriding mood is dark, and the tone is tough, with something bruised and battered at its core. It opens with the hypnotically fierce blast of Thief, a propulsive post-punk take on a jazzy sixties spy theme, with Simz delivering a vicious character assassination in a machine-gun blast of snarling rhymes. It's a sensational, shiver-inducing intro, but its anger is fuelled by a sense of personal hurt that lingers throughout the album, and even Lotus's most joyously upbeat tracks (Flood, Young, Free and Lion) can't quite shake it. A profound sense of existential crisis underpins Lotus, expressed most unequivocally amidst the jazzy piano spaces of Lonely, in which Simz confesses 'I don't even know who I'm meant to be anymore.' Distinctive British soul singer Sampha serenades her despondency in sweet, sad tones. His voice is also prominent on sombre end track, Blue, which finds Simz questioning how people cope with life's sense of perennial injustice, noting 'the truth is God still loves your enemies' amidst a cascade of rhymes including cemetery, identity and 'white supremacy.' It is simultaneously impressive and depressing. At 31, Simbiatu Ajikawo should be on top of the world, yet we find her making the time-worn confession 'it's lonely at the top.' Lauded by critics and peers, she has imperious lyrical skills and an adventurous musical imagination. She has won Mercury and Brit Awards and shown herself to be a fine actor in Netflix UK crime drama Top Boy. This month, Simz will be the 30th curator of the Southbank Centre's prestigious Meltdown Festival. It is odd then to note that she has never actually had a hit single, and only one of her albums has been top 5 in the UK (2021's masterful Sometimes I Might Be Introvert). She cancelled a US tour in 2022, sacked her long-serving manager (inspiring that year's darkly intense album No Thank You) and is currently suing her former producer, Dean 'Inflo' Cover, seeking £1.7 million in damages for unpaid loans (Cover's legal team have acknowledged the debt). It is honestly not hard to work out who is the intended subject of the most vitriolic put downs on Lotus, or why Simz might be experiencing a sense of crisis. Jazz producer Miles Clinton James has taken over the role of chief collaborator, dialling up a jazziness that has long underpinned Simz' oeuvre, a development unlikely to correct her status as a no-hit wonder. Still, it sounds fantastic and an array of super talented voices (including Obongjayar, Michael Kiwanuka, Lydia Kitto, Miraa May and Moonchild Sanelly) all add distinctive flavours. Simz herself brings a greater range of tonal and emotional depths to her formerly sometimes robotic flow, which is a welcome development. Lotus is an absorbing and powerfully honest album. But whilst the title flower symbolises rebirth and enlightenment in many cultures, here it seems more suggestive of something beautiful blooming in a very dark place indeed. Best New Songs By Poppie Platt Addison Rae, New York The TikTok influencer-turned-pop's hottest and most hyped new star finally releases her self-titled debut album today. Joining the deliciously addictive, Noughties-influenced likes of singles Diet Pepsi and Fame is a Gun comes this hazy club banger about the Louisiana girl's new life in the Big Apple. ADMT, Come Along Having got his start on YouTube, the Yorkshire singer sets himself firmly on the path to being Gen Z's answer to Ed Sheeran – think personal lyrics, spat out delivery and catchy acoustic hooks – on this track about loved ones who drifted away. Madonna, Skin (The Collaboration Remix Edit) The superstar's long-rumoured, equally long-awaited Ray of Light remix album Veronica Electronica is officially on its way (set your Spotify reminders for July 25 now). Get in the mood with this stomping electro remix of her 1998 classic. Sabrina Carpenter, Manchild Ahead of her headline slot at Primavera Sound in Barcelona tonight, the reigning queen of bubblegum pop returns with an infectious new single taking down a 'Manchild' ex who won't leave her alone or get a grip ('I like my men all incompetent'). Thinly veiled dig at ex Barry Keoghan, surely?
