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performing as a guest vocalist, and contributed tracks to his playlist “More Life.” Rappers in particular can’t get enough of Jorja’s voice: in 2017, grime artist Predi- tah released a charting single with her, “On my Mind,” and within 3 months Stormzy dropped a track also, “Let Me Down.” Smith also cowrote and sang “I Am,” a track from Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther album. While she’s always been well-known in the UK, these collab singles helped give Jorja more international ex- posure. Without Drake’s stamp of approval, she admits it would’ve been hard to be in the mainstream music conversation so quickly. “I was able to be tapped into this different audience,” Jorja says of her Drake collabs. “But yeah, I’m not just the girl from Drake’s album.” She immediately set about proving that. Singles, EPs and mixtapes are great, but true artists are judged on the body of their albums. Jorja’s debut effort, “Lost & Found,” did not disappoint. Blending raw storytelling with superstar vocal talent, she connected with fans in the UK and abroad. The album debuted at #3 in Brit- ain and cemented her breakthrough in the US, reach- ing #41 on the Billboard Top 100 as well as earning a Grammy nomination for best new artist. In 2018 she won the BRIT Critics’ Choice Award, praising Jorja’s
pioneering.
If it seems like a lot of Jorja’s tracks are about social issues,
it’s because they are. As an artist, she thinks it’s important to make people touch and feel someone else’s life; from the moment you press play, Jorja wants you captivated. As musicians, “[we] can make people listen.”
Fiercely independent, she also has no big record deals in place, preferring to release everything through her FAMM label. “When I was 12, I thought, ‘You can’t make it unless you’re with a label, you have to go to America and sign a deal’. Living in Walsall, that’s how I thought you became a successful singer,” Jorja recalls. “Now you can do it by yourself, if you have a good team and the music is good... I don’t know any different, I don’t know what it’s like to be with a label.”
Now that she’s an A-lister, it’s Jorja’s turn to play role model. Citing stars like Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys, she wants to inspire young people, especial- ly young women, to chart their own course. Everybody wants to win a Grammy, but Jorja believes good music will always be rewarded. “[My music’s] about making people feel, learn something and think twice about something (hurtful) they might have said to someone.” If she can do that, mission accomplished.
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