Jorja Smith
Jorja Smith
Jorja A. Smith, Jorja Alice Smith
Jorja Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer/songwriter from Walsall, West Midlands. She rose to prominence with her single “Blue Lights” in 2016 which she recorded and released while working at Starbucks. The previous year, she had gone viral with a Twitter freestyle in which she sang over Treble Clef’s classic grime instrumental “Ghetto Kyote”. Earlier work of hers includes a 2015 cover of Camp Lo’s “Luchini AKA This Is It” and a 2014 collaboration with hip hop artist Chinky Piff entitled “Weed Control”, released via local label Chameleon Audio.
Following several collaborations with Maverick Sabre and Cadenza, Smith released her debut EP Project 11 on 17 November 2016 to rave reviews, and then gained further notoriety by collaborating with Drake on his 2017 project More Life. Later in the year, she contributed “Fine Line” to the Insecure season two soundtrack, and also appeared on Kali Uchis’s hit single “Tyrant”. She enjoyed her first taste of chart success with “On My Mind”, a UK garage single produced by Preditah.
In 2018, she collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on “I Am” for the Black Panther soundtrack, released the standalone single “Let Me Down” featuring Stormzy, remixed Khalid’s “Location” alongside Wretch 32, and later unleashed her debut album Lost and Found on 8 June 2018. The album features previous singles “Blue Lights”, “Where Did I Go?”, “Teenage Fantasy”, and “February 3rd”.