Jorja Smith has achieved much more than any other 20-year-old I know. She’s been co-signed to Drake’s label, and collaborated with a range of huge artists including Stormzy, Kali Uchis, and of course, Drake himself. Her debut album Lost & Found has been three years in the making, and will finally drop later this week. In the meantime, we’ve been blessed with ‘February 3rd’. It’s a smooth, soulful acoustic track that’s right in line with everything else we’ve heard from Smith. It’s kind of slow, but very addictive.
The intro meanders along, introducing lazy guitars and a beat. It’s reminiscent of Stormzy’s ‘Cigarettes and Kush’, which fits into exactly the same genre as ‘February 3rd’. Smith’s vocals shine through from the outset, coming in with a low key bells section after the intro. By far the best part is when she moves into the falsetto “why don’t you lose yourself, for me” of the chorus. This woman has an amazing range, and she shows it off incredibly well. Her deeper, sultry voice takes us through the verses, before scaling right back up for the chorus.
It’s hard to miss the Amy Winehouse comparison once you hear it – and Smith is open about Winehouse being one of her biggest influences. The comparison isn’t unwarranted, either, especially when you hear Smith traversing all the aspects her vocal range so easily in ‘February 3rd’. The instrumentals remain essentially the same throughout the track, leaving her voice to take centre stage, and it’s very much worth it. She’s also included a talking outro, which seems to be all the rage at the moment, and it’s a huge reference to the name of her album. She basically just says “I’ve been lost” and “found” in various ways for twenty seconds. This actually did make me a bit more excited for the album, so adding it to the last single before Lost & Found drops seems well thought out. It’s the little things like this that remind me of how, despite only being 20, Smith knows exactly what she’s doing and how to get there. Overall, ‘February 3rd’ is the perfect teaser for Lost & Found, which has the potential to be a near-perfect album.
8/10
This article first appeared on Outlet Mag. The full article can be found here.