Photo Credit: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com
Who are you in your head? It’s a harder question to answer then you might expect or may be willing to admit. For the London born MC, Little Simz it’s a question that seems to have permeated the majority of her 2021 masterwork of an album “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”. It seems each piece of art comes from a<a href="“> thought inside of the artist into the world, how well the artist can portray that thought reflects their ability. If this is in fact the case then few thoughts have come into this world more perfectly formed than this album.
This is not a caricature of being an introvert, Little Simz uses her considerable talents as a MC and songwriter to paint a broad picture of someone with a fulfilled and active mind that they choose to keep themselves. Songs like ” Two Worlds Apart” and “Point and Kill” show the spectrum of thought that went into the creation of this album all while tying back into the theme of exploration of self being extremely beneficial.
The insecurities that are often associated with introverted behaviors exist on this album but interestingly enough they often take a back seat to the flashes of bombast and confidence that carry this album. A track like “Introvert” could have easily just blended into the embarrassingly deep pile of songs that have attempted to paint a picture of the last 2 years. Instead what we get is are insights that can only be expressed by someone whose thoughts on these topics contains an unusual amount of nuance <a href="“>and understanding.
The <a href="“>varied sounds on this album speak to a mind with millions of thoughts at once, but instead of feeling bombarded and overloaded with conflicting ideas the listener is in-store for a ride where each is unexpected but welcome. What is truly shocking is with all of this change on the album the consistency of the messaging never falters. Often with something like this themes fight for recognition amongst each other but Simz crafts a narrative so utterly human and real that at times it feels like you’ve known her for years and dealt with her feelings your entire life. That isn’t to say the project is one note far from it, but this album understands itself better than most in recent memory and that is due to the true vision Little Simz possesses.
“Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” is truly incredible, providing much more than the glimpse we receive into most artist minds. Little Simz has created an expression of self that is almost surreal. The best approach to this project is to listen as if you have met someone interesting for the first time, see what of yourself you see in them and let your differences in thought bring you closer together.
-VK