Jorja Smith has officially arrived. To high fanfare the BRIT Critic’s Choice Award winner releases her much-anticipated debut album Lost & Found today (Jun. 8). The 20-year-old songstress has remained independent though the course of a steep upward trajectory over the past two years. Posting her first song on Soundcloud in 2015, the singer/songwriter released her acclaimed debut EP ‘Project 11‘ in the fall of 2016. What followed was a legendary breakout year in 2017 for the Walsall native.
Receiving major co-signs from the likes of Bruno Mars, who let her open a run of dates on his “24K Magic World Tour,” to Drake who featured Jorja on his More Life project multiple times, and Kendrick Lamar who featured her on the official Black Panther soundtrack.
Lost & Found features songs Jorja mostly wrote between the ages of 16-18. The album is a youthful exploration of love and anger, but also about self-discovery. “I’ve never rushed anything in my life,” says Jorja Smith. “I like 2018, because what does 2 plus 0 plus 1 plus 8 equal? Eleven. Which is my favorite number in the world. So, I think it’s meant to be.”
The 12-track album opens with the title track and includes previously released singles “Blue Lights,” “Teenage Fantasy,” and “Where Did I Go,” and closes with the personally touching ballad “Don’t Watch Me Cry.” Her early 2018 single “Let Me Down” featuring Stormzy is absent from the tracklist, possibly because she wanted the album to be completely free of features.
“No features on my first album. I thought, ‘Nah, just me,’” she recently told Julie Adenuga of Beats 1 in a candid interview. “People probably are gonna expect me to have a Drake feature and Kendrick feature. Maybe Kali Uchis feature, too. Who else? Stormzy feature. Sorry! But what am I going to do for album two? I’ve got stuff to do.”
She certainly does, and Lost & Found is just the beginning of, if forecast properly, a very storied career ahead.
Stream Jorja Smith’s debut album Lost & Found via Spotify below.
