Mercury music prize winner keeps the pressure on through consistency.
VERDICT:
Striking work lists the pressures Little Simz has gone through where she pens a poignant letter on ten track album ‘NO THANK YOU’ in capital letters to full effect. Simz’ latest work offers new motives that lay bare the strife inflicted by an industry of suits.
A diarist release of sorts, it inspires sympathy for the artist who, it seems, has endured a lot. Returning with a delectable set of sounds that have filled an album with varying degrees of Hip-Hop and R&B eras, Simz rolls over beats with a natural flow of sterling vocals.
Ripping into CEOs and record label bigwigs whose only motive is to ensure a profit is turned (which is the name of the game unfortunately in any industry), the rapper slips a wisp of attacks on an industry she feels does not take into account her mental state, evident on works like ‘Silhouette’ where she spotlights the masking of an industry that thrives on the inauthentic – “All this fake love got me feelin’ I’m the realest here”.
The album itself is full of saddening narratives that continue for the most part. ‘NO THANK YOU’s’ cover art coupled with work that platform the artist’s difficulties fully complete the notion that she is unable to give herself time to think about the toil endured for the chase of the dream. But none of it is profligate which is evident in the work itself.
Little Simz has cross-haired her line of focus to pour her pain on the long play canvas that is but a sliver away from a masterpiece. This album feels more like Simz and is a vast improvement over her prior release.
Stanisland Magazine 