It’s tough to believe that this is Simz’s 9th album (4th on a major label). Maybe it’s a sign of my age, but she seems like new artist to me in some ways. Perhaps because unlike the rest of the This Is Not Happen pod members I’ve never clicked with her albums, akin to drop in and out and champion the singles that click with me (note I think Boss from Simz’s Grey Area album is one of the best British songs in the last ten years). So why am I not a huge fan of her albums? Largely as a hip hop fan I’ve found her delivery lacking substance and emotion often. So why have a picked this album? In short I think she’s turned a corner for me. All niggles I’ve had previously have been pushed away with the release for Lotus.
Although I may have had issues with previous albums I’m never doubted the talent of Simz’s. Both musically and also her acting has made her a household name throughout the UK and a shining light within the UK music scene. Very much a veteran artist that continues to collect global momentum with each release, Simz delivers a versatile, well curated 49 minute end to end. Filled with emotion and confidence each song is an adventure.
Many reviews of Lotus have focussed on her public fallout with long time friend and collaborator Inflo, Friends since she was 9 years old, their came to a hard stop over publicly disputed loan of £2m that Simz lent Inflo which wasn’t paid back. The frustration, hurt and betrayal of this is weaved throughout the album starting off with the first track Thief and finished with Blue (featuring Info collaborator Michael Kiwanuka). Although this is a standout theme on a handful of songs, it’s not the only theme of the album. There is so much more to the album to go at and focus on as she touches on everything in her world.
One interesting point is that Simz hasn’t pushed her sound in a different direction due to the split. Perhaps planting her flag to the sound we know Info for and that is as much hers as his, there are familiar sounds we have got to know both of them for highlighting their sound is much as Simz as Inflo.
Simz largely leans on collaboration throughout this album with 8 of the 13 songs featuring other artists. A theme common for hip hop albums, but interestingly the guests push this album away from hip hop and expands its accessibility through a versatile selection of guests. I’m not sure you would even call this a hip hop album? What is certain is that the additional help creates a rounded offering.
Currently Lion is my favourite track. The cross over friendly sounds comfort Simz in a close to perfect flow. It may be my song of the summer. The album sadly doesn’t go without a bump. I really struggle with Young…. But I’m trying to let it grow on me.
Simz delivers a rounded, mature and accomplished album with Lotus. For me her best release to date. I’m now in the Simz camp, and if you aren’t it’s time to take a step inside.
thisisnothappening.net 
Inbound Joey Bullets;
Evening all. It’s felt like we’ve had ages with this album and all of a sudden it’s all over us and it’s pod week. How does that happen? (Edit: I’ve been on holiday and with family, so listening time for music is compressed, even more so when it’s an album you can’t work to).
It’s interesting that both of you talk about being singles Simzers (a word I’ve happily just made up). That feels like my territory, not yours! I’ve really loved her albums, pretty much across the board, even Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. That was a flawed album but my god, it had ambition. And I think that’s what I’ve always loved about her. I wasn’t a super early adopter, but we all loved Grey Area, and that feels a LOT older than just 6 years ago. It had such raw energy and fierceness. And her flow was so staggering, in a non-showoff way. It was so British, too, that you couldn’t help but love it. It felt like London speaking to me, and that was rare.
So leaping forward to this year, and how much I loved the more understated and sharp NO THANK YOU, I had high hopes. I loved how she’d opened up her sonic palette – and even going back to her earlier mixtapes/albums it wasn’t straight up rap/hip-hop then – and I’d enjoyed the beats and melodies as much as what she had to say. When I first heard Lotus, I knew nothing of the backstory. I knew she’d worked with Inflo for years but I just felt like this was back to a much more raw set of tracks: the opener made me just think ‘fuck, I am glad I’m not the person she’s singing about here‘. There was so much going on musically, lyrically, I found it almost overwhelming at the start, but it was also such a rewarding listen.
I mean, jesus, there are so many great songs. SO many. Many have been mentioned, like Lion, Young (which really divides opinion), majestic first single Flood, Enough were the big ones, but also some incredible slices of soul like Free and Lonely, and then the jazz of Peace. If you were a die-hard hip-hop fan though, you’d surely listen to this and think “what is this?”. It is so ambitious and so rich and so interesting, and yet, it’s only when you see the backstory that it adds all these layers on top.
After reading what is alleged, you’d be pretty pissed off right? And actually, while Simz does so much soul-influenced flow so well, we all love when she’s in righteous fury mode. Thief takes on another angle altogether, as do tracks like Lion and Enough. This is where things really landed for me. Because this isn’t just about the fallout with Inflo, but the rawness of her insecurity, her confidence in making another album – not insignificant when your trust in a long time friend and collaborator’s been destroyed – and her talking in interviews about just laying it all out there. It’s a work of real honesty and truth, and that’s so much more powerful.
And the thing is, knowing that she was also a big part of Sault, and that style that we all nodded to Inflo for – see also, his work with Michael Kiwanuka – it turns out she’s got just as much power in this album without him part of it. New producer Miles Clinton James proves that all of Inflo’s tricks perhaps weren’t just his, and together they strip back some of the layers, but what you get is a really brilliant, pared-down record that highlights the emotion and flow and has amazing hooks that bring it all to life.
It does zip by, and while i get that the track sequence up to and after Hollow does lose a bit of energy, I think this is intended, as there’s an emotional narrative too that almost needs Simz to step back before reconciling things and looking forward.
There’s so much to talk about, on an artist that is at the top of her game, even though she stated she almost didn’t make the album. If this is her crisis of confidence, then bloody hell, what is she going to be like when she’s firing on all cylinders? Simz, all HAIL.
Hello all, so sorry to be missing this month’s pod, because honestly, WHAT A FUCKING RECORD this is. I think this might be the crowning glory so far on what has already been an absolute stellar career. It’s funny, moving, angry, poignant and questioning. I literally cannot get enough of it, and I must have listened to it 30 times in the last couple of weeks.
Interesting point that Nolan makes about how in a way she hasn’t ripped up her trademark sound even after moving on from Inflo. But I do think it is one fuck of an evolution – I think it has a greater musical breadth and a bigger ambition than anything she’s done before, and that’s saying something. It is focussed – boy, is it focussed – in a way that makes it feel like every single bar, every single word has been worked on until it’s perfection.
And let’s talk about that musical breadth! Afrobeat (Lion), bratty pop (Young), LCD/Gorillaz vibes (Enough), sophisti-soul (Only), downtempo rap (the title track), elevated pop-soul (Lonely). And with every single one of those songs I’ve listed, she delivers the very best version of that genre, fresh and nuanced and frankly just damn brilliant.
I honestly don’t think there’s a weak track on here, though perhaps the sister-bro argument of Blood loses its freshness after the 20th play. But there are so many highlights, and for once, I don’t think an album this ‘front-loaded’ with singles loses any of its power – because the singles are SO different from one another – and because the rest of the album doesn’t let up on its quality.
Two songs particularly stand out for me, and both of them because I’ve never heard Simz sound like before. The first is Young, which I know is a slightly controversial because of Nolan’s dislike of it. I think it is a work of total genius, subversive, funny and so brilliantly delivered, mimicking so beautifully the slightly classless white London girl in her 20s, a party girl with a bit of edge. It’s so hard to know if it’s done with love or contempt, probably a bit of both – but somehow it also sounds like Simz lives within the character herself. It draws on London-ness so deeply that you can hear everything from Lily Allen to The Clash to Ian Dury in it. Every time I hear it, I am 100% happier about the world.
The second is the collaboration with Little Dragon’s Yukimi – a genius piece of dance-pop built about an absolutely killer groove that will live in your brain forever once it burrows its way in. Her flow suits the groove so brilliantly, and helps create an effortlessly fantastic tune that recalls Tom Tom Club and Gorillaz as much as it does LCD and (obvs) Little Dragon.
Anyway, it’s currently vying with Saya for top spot in my AOTY. Love it love it love it. Long live Little Simz!
Woah!
I am very much in this space brother David. I’ve just had less time with it, perhaps.