Be Right Back

About

If it wasn’t already clear from her soul-baring 2018 debut album <i>Lost & Found</i>, then perhaps her 2019 single “Be Honest” made it extra clear: Jorja Smith i, amongst others thing, incredibly truthful where her music is concerned. “I was actually going to call this <i>This Is Not My Second Album</i>,” the singer-songwriter tells Apple Music of the EP <i>Be Right Back</i>. “Because these are songs that I love and I've written in the past two year, but I'm not yet ready to do 'the album.' When it’s time, I want to tour that album. And also: I know that there's another level that I can get to—musically, creatively, and all other aspect.” The British singer-songwriter ha, of course, previous experience when it comes to non-album material making a splash. Her silky, soulful appearances on Drake’s <i>More Life</i> “playlist” are arguably what opened her up to a global audience, while a slew of post-<i>Lost & Found</i> collaborations with artists including Brent Faiyaz, Popcaan, and ENNY mean Rihanna-style anticipation for an eventual album two. This eight-track set of evocative ballads—a self-described sonic “waiting room”—finds Smith continuing to thoughtfully navigate her way through a changing world. “Music's great,” she say. “It’s a little escape, and that's why I gave the project this title. I just wanted to dip in and dip out. But I want it to be a safe escape for my fans—for right now—because I know they miss me.” Perhaps fittingly, then, it’s a striking and spare collection of moods and moment. “Bussdown” is gorgeous: a sultry hookup with UK rapper Shaybo that recalls Smith’s “Blue Lights” in potent storytelling. The bracingly direct “Addicted” glides over guitar licks that wouldn’t be out of place on <i>In Rainbows</i>, while “Gone” memorializes the tragic loss of a friend. “Anyone who listens will hear it differently to what it actually means in the first place,” she says of the track. “That’s what I love.” Elsewhere, “Home” feels like chancing on Smith at an open mic night with a diary entry, and “Weekend” brings us to a dreamlike, considered climax. Smith’s falsetto on this track, by the way, has never sounded so angelic. .

via Apple Music

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