Album of the Year 2018 #11: Jorja Smith - Lost & Found - HipHop

Album of the Year 2018 #11: Jorja Smith - Lost & Found
Daily Discussion Thread 12/13/2018
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Album of the Year 2018 #11: Jorja Smith - Lost & Found

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 05:18 AM PST

Artist: Jorja Smith

Album: Lost & Found

Released: June 8, 2018

Label: FAMM

LISTEN

Spotify

Apple Music

Google Play

Background: As a young girl growing up in suburbs of England, Jorja Smith picked up music at a young age with the encouragement of her Jamaican father. Starting with piano lessons, she eventually grew into singing at age 11, when she wrote her first ever song. As an impressionable youth, Jorja found herself listening to Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, and Alicia Keys amongst others, all of which shaping the music she would release as an adult. As she found her passion for music, she utilized that in her education, earning a music scholarship at Aldridge sixth form school to study classical singing. After completion of sixth form, Jorja moved to London at 18 years old, where she aspired to pursue music full time. In 2016, she released her first single, Blue Lights, sampling Dizzee Rascal's Sirens, on SoundCloud. The song was met with an outstanding response, garnering hundreds of thousands of plays in less than a month. She continued to release music independently, culminating in her debut EP, Project 11, at the tail end of 2016. Jorja began to earn the attention of some big names around this time, notably Drake. Not only did Drake bring Jorja along to open on his European tour, Boy Meets World, he featured Jorja on two tracks off of his full length "playlist" More Life in 2017. Jorja continued to earn co-signs from other musical giants and etch her name in the industry early. After opening for Bruno Mars on his worldwide tour and contributing to the soundtrack of the 2018 juggernaut Black Panther, Jorja Smith finally released her debut full-length LP, Lost & Found, in June 2018, right before turning 21.

Review: Lost & Found is an R&B album which takes various influences from other genres, including hip-hop, pop, blues, funk and soul. Jorja, as her classical background may dictate, is a vocalist first and foremost, and she often commands the track with her vocals. Jorja's voice is stunning in a way that's difficult to explain with words; it's breathy, seductive and meticulous as Jorja glides her way through the album with grace and poise. To juxtapose her refrained voice are a collection of bombastic choruses and refrains which demonstrates Jorja's tremendous range, all while never sounding overly forced. While her voice is stunning, her songwriting is also an impressive highlight of Jorja's music. The album's title is a theme that carries itself throughout the duration of the album in a variety of ways. Jorja is speaking about her experiences in life and finding herself through those experiences, pertaining to love, emotional instability, guilt, and independence. The album's self-titled opening track is an immediate display of Jorja wearing her personal anecdotes on her sleeve, as she contemplates the thought of true love at such a young age, and if it can even be possible. Immediately following, the track Teenage Fantasy forebodes the opposite side of the story. This track, about a failed teenage relationship, features a breath-taking, show-stopping chorus from Jorja where her range is put on display, coupled with some harmonious choral vocals backing her up. Blue Lights, Jorja's first official single, details the thoughts of guilt by association and its impending consequences, using police sirens as the metaphorical crutch of the lyrics. These are just a few examples of the unique storytelling abilities and fabulously crafted from Jorja. There's are dueling emotions of vulnerability and confidence present, which is something I have not heard any artist achieve.

The album's production, much like the vocals, is lush and grandiose, but in a subdued sense. As mentioned before, the sounds of the album are eclectic and borrow from multiple genres. In general, each beat on Lost & Found works with live instrumentation, incorporating pianos, acoustic/bass guitars and authentic percussion. The production never overpowers the track; rather, it acts as the perfect complement to Jorja's somber serenades. The single Where Did I Go? features a progressive, groovy bassline, paired with some sparse, depressed keys. February 3rd introduces watered, glistening synths and some gentle string sections, which is brought to life by a sharp, click-clack snare. On Your Own, one of the album's loudest tracks, features a pounding set of bass chords and thumping snares, complete with a woozy, hip-hop styled breakdown halfway through the track. This would not be the only time Jorja incorporates some hip-hop into her songs on Lost & Found: the concise Lifeboats Freestyle features predominantly rapping from Jorja over a bouncing set of hi-hats. Using lifeboats as an analogy, Jorja covers the poverty she and her peers faced as a child, as well as the wealthy subsection of our modern society and their role in poverty; a topic that's barely touched by rappers, let alone an R&B singer. Blue Lights (which, as mentioned previously, already samples Dizzie Rascal) sees Jorja fusing her singing with some faster rapping flows over a boom-bap inspired drum loop. Sometimes, the track will take on a massive atmosphere, such as the case with The One: an orchestral journey of strings that echoes behind Jorja's syrupy laments over her independence. On the contrary, the ballad Goodbyes is fully acoustic, with only a single guitar joining Jorja's vocals. Most tracks on Lost & Found create an atmosphere that very few R&B albums have been able to replicate, and the production plays a large part in that.

Overall, I found this album to be absolutely stunning, especially considering Jorja's young age. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this album initially, but I came out of it with one of the most realized, mature and enjoyable R&B albums I've ever heard. This is for sure one of my absolute favorite albums this year, as well as all-time. Front to back, every aspect of this project is near flawless, and Jorja has fully cemented herself as a fresh force to be reckoned with in the industry. Very few artists have put me in a musical trance the way Jorja Smith did on Lost & Found.

FAVORITE LYRICS

Teenage Fantasy

I've got a lot of things to do What if I had been a fool and thought I was in love with you I need to grow and find myself before I let somebody love me Because at the moment I don't know me When I was told by my father, if I look into the future Do I really see this boy, that I think I've fallen for?

February 3rd

There's a life outside I didn't know Tied up, falling down to an empty soul And lord knows that this love has taken toll I've given all of my love to this broken home

Blue Lights

Tall black shadow as you're getting off the bus Shadow shows no emotion so what's even the fuss? But the face of your boy casts a darker picture Of the red handed act, he's gonna whisper; "Look blud I'm sorry 'cause I know you got my back He was running, I couldn't think, I had to get out of that" Not long ago you were miming to the "Shook Ones" Now this really is part two 'cause you're the shook one

Lifeboats Freestyle

So why are all the richest staying afloat? Seeing all my brothers drowning even though they nicked the boat Mothership ain't helping anyone See, the ships are getting bigger, full of greedy wasteful men Soaking kids with the lies before they even got to ten Sailing the internet waves, a tsunami of wires

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What are your favorite tracks on this album?
Do you believe this album is one of the best debuts in recent memory?
Does Jorja have a pop commercial viability? Why or why not?
Where do you think Jorja will go from here on her next release?

Thank you all so much for reading my write-up! I hope that i adequately summed up your feelings on this album. If you haven't heard it, I hope I've inspired you to check it out!

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Daily Discussion Thread 12/13/2018

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 06:28 AM PST

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Kanye firing shots at Drake on Twitter

Posted: 13 Dec 2018 12:54 PM PST

TL;DR

It appears Drake is trying to clear 'Say What's Real' off his So Far Gone mixtape. This song samples/remixes Kanye's 'Say You Will'

Kanye took this as the opportunity to air out Drake, citing all the sneak disses and behind the scenes threats he's alleged that he's made. In the span of his rants, he's claimed Drake bought out Pusha T's front rows in Toronto to cause a brawl, he sneak dissed him on SICKO MODE, Drake bullies people with mental health issues, only for Drake to end the first rant by calling him.

Kanye claimed 'Mission Accomplished' and the sample was not cleared. A couple hours later, Kanye is back and claiming Drake called to threaten his life, where he restated that XXX is dead and 6ix9ine are already in jail, only difference is Kanye is a family man. Kanye says he paved the way for Drake to come up in rap, and he shouldn't be giving the guy with pink polos the tough talk now. Essentially, respect your elders.

And then gives a further deep dive into SICKO MODE, calling out Travis for allowing that to come out as a diss to his brother-in-law. Retracts some of the harsher statements which are mirrored below, but then tries to end (as of now?) on a positive note, saying to respect him while he's still here.

This proves shit faker than wrestling

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