Jorja Smith is a British singer-songwriter who started her career in 2016. Smith has collaborated with Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy and Drake. Nevertheless, it was her tracks that were the most successful. In 2018, the singer received the Brit Critics' Choice Award. And in 2019, she was even nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category.
Childhood and youth Jorja Smith
George Alice Smith was born on June 11, 1997 in Walsall, UK. Her father is Jamaican and her mother is English. The love for music was instilled in the singer by her parents. Before the birth of Georgie, his father was the vocalist of the neo-soul band 2nd Naicha. It was he who advised her to learn to play the piano and oboe, go to singing lessons at school. The singer's mother worked as a jewelry designer. Like her father, she always encouraged her daughter's creativity.
George says the following about his parents: “My parents had a significant influence on my desire to make music. My mother always said, “Just do it. Just sing." At school, I was engaged in classical singing, even took exams in this subject. There I learned to sing soprano when we performed Schubert's compositions for my plays, in Latin, German, French. I now use these skills to write and record my tracks."
Creative endeavors
George started performing at the age of 8, and at the age of 11 she wrote her first songs. A little later, the girl received a musical scholarship to study at the Aldridge School. As a teenager, the singer recorded cover versions of popular songs and posted them on YouTube. Thanks to this, the producers soon noticed her. To improve her songwriting skills, she took lessons from Anglo-Irish singer Maverick Saber in London. After graduating from school, Smith moved to the capital of Great Britain. There she finally decided to connect her life with music. She earned her livelihood by working as a barista in a coffee shop near her home.
George was inspired by such musical genres as reggae, punk, hip-hop, R&B. As a teenager, the singer was obsessed with Amy Winehouse's debut album Frank. She also really liked the tracks of Alicia Keys, Adele and Sade. The artist devotes her songs to social problems: “I think it is very important to touch on the problems that are happening in the world today. As a musician, you can give more publicity to disturbing things. Because the moment listeners hit the play button, their attention is already yours.”
The Beginning of Georgie Smith's Musical Career
After moving to London (in 2016), George released the first track Blue Lights on SoundCloud. He became a "breakthrough" for the performer, as he scored about half a million plays in a month. At the same time, most British radio stations added the song to their playlists. The composition became so popular that in 2018 the artist was even invited to perform it on the evening television show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
A few months later, the singer's track Where Did I Go? was released on the same site. He was noticed by the famous rapper Drake, who called the song one of the best and his favorite at the time. Already in November 2016, Smith released her debut EP Project 11. It took 4th position in the BBC Music Sound of 2017 long list. Due to the success of the record, the singer began to attract the attention of famous performers. Drake was the first to offer her to cooperate. Together they recorded two tracks for his More Life project.
Jorja surprised listeners around the world with her gentle sound on the tracks Jorja Interlude and Get It Together. The last song was recorded with the participation of Black Coffee. Smith initially turned down an offer to work with Drake on "Get It Together" as she was not involved with writing the song.
Smith said in an interview: “I really liked this track, but I didn’t write it, so I didn’t take the lyrics seriously. But then I broke up with my boyfriend, listened to the song and understood everything. And so we recorded it. The reason for my initial rejection was that I can't do things for free. I need to genuinely love what I do.”
Jorja Smith was also the opening act for Bruno Mars on his 24k Magic World Tour in 2017. On the North American leg of the tour, the singer was joined by Dua Lipa and Camila Cabello.
The first popularity of Georgie Smith and work with the stars
In 2017, the artist released several solo singles: Beautiful Little Fools, Teenage Fantasy, On My Mind. The last of these peaked at number 5 on the UK indie chart and peaked at number 54 on the pop chart. In the same year, the singer received three MOBO nominations at once in the categories: "Best Female Artist", "Best New Artist" and "Best R&B / Soul Act Artist". However, she failed to win. This period also saw the release of the Spotify Singles EP, which is currently unavailable on streaming platforms.
In 2018, with rapper Stormzy, Smith released the song Let Me Down, which reached the UK Top 40 almost immediately. Ed Thomas helped them write the composition. Produced by Thomas and Paul Epworth. The music video was released on January 18, 2018. The video was filmed in Kyiv. Here the singer played a contract killer hired to kill a ballet dancer. At the same time, she is in love with a dancer, which caused her great doubts about the correctness of the decision. Stormzy only appeared at the end of the video and played the role of Georgie's boss. The video has over 14 million views on YouTube.
During this time, under the direction of Kendrick Lamar, Smith also composed the I Am soundtrack for the movie Black Panther. Thanks to this, she managed to attract even more listeners to her work. And also to increase interest in the first studio album Lost & Found (2018).
The release of the studio album and the current work of Jorja Smith
They worked on writing and recording the album for 5 years in London and Los Angeles. It was the move to London that inspired the singer to name the disc, which sounds in Russian as “Lost and Found”. She arrived in the capital in 2015 when she was only 18 years old. Here George lived with her aunt and uncle. While working as a Starbucks barista, she took breaks by writing down lyrics in Voicenotes on her phone. According to the performer, she felt lost in the new city. But at the same time, George knew exactly where she wanted to be.
Lost & Found received excellent reviews from music critics. They noted Georgie's atypical composition, style, lyrical content and vocal delivery. The record was featured on several year end best albums lists and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The work debuted at number 3 on the UK Top Albums Chart and at number 1 on the UK R&B Chart.
From 2019 to 2020 the singer released only singles. Among them, Be Honest with Burna Boy, solo By Any Means and Come Over with Popcaan became very popular. In 2021, the third EP Be Right Back was released, consisting of 8 tracks. The singer describes the record as a "waiting room" in preparation for the upcoming release of her second studio album. The songs from Be Right Back were written and recorded during 2019-2021. The artist described the work on the EP as a way to withdraw from the numerous situations that happened to her over a three-year period.
Jorja Smith's personal life
In September 2017, it was reported that George was dating Joel Compass (songwriter). There was an opinion among the couple's fans that Smith and Compass were engaged. However, unexpectedly for everyone, their relationship ended in 2019.
Joel confirmed the breakup with the singer on Instagram after a "fan" commented on rumors that George had kissed rapper Stormzy. “We broke up a while ago,” the girl’s ex-boyfriend wrote.
In April 2017, Jorja Smith was also rumored to be dating Drake. However, the relationship of the performers is professional. George hasn't mentioned having a boyfriend since she broke up with Joel. At the moment, the singer is not dating anyone.
