Hi everyone, Badthony Feeltano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd and it's time for a review of the new Little Simz album Lotus.

Here we have a brand new record from rapper songwriter UK lyricist extraordinaire Little Simz. This is her sixth full length LP to date, a highly anticipated one for me, a follow up to her 2022 No Thank You record, which was a pretty tight and solid assembly of songs from her, some of which felt like holdovers from her last album cycle a year earlier, the excellent Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, which is a kind of Simz established thing at this point if you have been following her discography.

Where she'll come through with these very large ambitious records and then after these types of album cycles, she will pendulum swing over to something that is maybe a bit smaller, stripped back or direct and to the point.

I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but I just want to say I find the way Simz releases her music to be very interesting.

What's even more interesting though, obviously is her incredible talent for songwriting and lyricism, and off the strength of those talents, in several short years, Simz has really proven herself to be one of the best things the UK has ever given us in terms of hip hop, and she's shown so many sides of herself in her catalog so far. Whether you're talking about the rough and rugged beats and brash attitude of Gray Area or the fantastical storybook production of Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, a record that was really an ode to her journey and success as an artist, while also making note of the sort of solitude she prefers and seeks in her life sometimes.

And with this new LP, I was very much looking forward to seeing her musical world expand, especially with the surprising direction that some of the singles here took, like with the song "Flood", which is an Obongjayar / Moonchild Sanelly crossover, a track that has a super grim primal beat and vibe to it that is unlike anything Simz has ever done before.

And there was also "Young", which in many ways goes in the polar opposite direction and has kind of proven to be her most polerizing single to date. It's kind of a goofy bop with some super raw drums, bass and guitar. There's something kind of post-punky about it too, and it's a track where she is seriously taking the piss about her age, about her simplistic lifestyle, with a deeply unserious vocal delivery. It's a track that in my opinion is legitimately funny, but the humor, for whatever reason, seems to be going over a lot of people's heads or just isn't registering, but I don't know. I just find it refreshing to hear Simz writing from a place where she's not necessarily in this heightened state of emotional urgency, especially since there is plenty of room for that on the rest of this new album.

Now, another necessary bit of context before going into the full review here, because it was announced in the lead up to this record that Simz is now engaging in this massive lawsuit against former collaborator Inflo, one of the founding members of the mysterious UK music collective Sault, and she is seeking a 1.7 million pound sum from Inflo. And now with that working relationship totally broken, I also went into this album wondering how would the music turn out and would Simz even be able to deliver on her usual pattern of this time around, delivering a record that's really kind of like reaching for the stars and is just generally quite ambitious.

But as worrying as this context is, it seems to have just served as more fuel for Simz's creative fire here. And I was actually surprised to hear how much seemingly this whole thing seems to play into this record's themes of betrayal, friends, family, just the people in your life who you need the most, and also finding the power within yourself to accomplish things on your own when you need to.

Take the opening track on the record, for example, "Thief", which is about exactly what it says it is. And while Simz doesn't go over all of the details of her falling out with Inflo on this song, she does make the feeling of being tricked and exploited, abused and ripped off pretty clear over these bustling drums and eerie guitar lines and sort of psychedelic la la la la la choruses. Whole thing sounds like a nightmare and it's a very strong overall start to the record in terms of songwriting and just the vibes that will come forth after.

Because a lot of these same sounds and feelings are echoed on the song "Flood", which also features themes of disgust and snakes and wishing to be guided away from those who might have devilish intentions. But then you do kind of get a very sudden and hard vibe shift on the song "Young".

Meanwhile, the track "Only" is a very gentle, flirty and lovesick number set to some super casual jazzy chords and what sounds like kind of a bossa nova beat. It's one of a few tracks on the record that doesn't exactly come across as Simz's boldest work. "Peace" as well is very much a super chill acoustic laid back track, which given just how redundant the instrumental on this one is, and how spoken word Simz's flows on this track are, I feel like this one could have been cut down to an interlude. It's a bit of a drag at this length, and the back end of the track would be a bust if not for an excellent vocal performance from Moses Sumney.

"Lion" is yet another cut in the tracklist featuring Obongjayar, which instrumentally is a bit of an Afro funk blend. Very solid verses once again from Simz, and overall it's fine. It just seems like the kind of thing that could have been added to whatever smaller sort of, you know, 'between' albums release Simz is likely to release after this or I don't know, maybe a deluxe expanded edition of this album.

However, I do think there are some other truly strong cuts in the first half of this LP, like "Free", which is this lovely soul infused number where Simz gives a really profound moving dissertation on love, which I think standalone is really great, but also I think necessary in the context of a record where she's rapping about so many moments where she's feeling a lack of that. So instead she's seeking out connections that actually do deliver some kind of care and reciprocity.

The song "Hollow" as well is pretty excellent and further dives into the hollowness of the same connection, presumably that the first track on the record is about. As Simz raps passionately and viciously about this person who is a fake supporter, putting her in a situation where her fans are like, oh man, your music's being held up. Where's the music? She also describes a "daylight robbery of my soul and my world got smaller." So you're talking about not only a loss of money, a loss of music, but also kind of, you know, again, that loss of a connection that previously you needed in order to exist in the world that you make your living off of. And of course this is all delivered over these fantastical strings and dreamy keys.

Then following this, we have a very strong run of songs toward the finish of the album. There's "Enough" featuring Yukimi of Little Dragon fame, a track that really brings back the crazy bass and post punk heavy grooves off of "Young" in such a way to where it feels like I am listening to a cut off an old ESG record. Which given the lyrics on this track and Simz's delivery, she kind of maps over onto this sound and style very well. And again to go back to the drumming, it's absolutely killer.

And then there's the track "Blood," which is an incredible, significant cut on this album, featuring a lot of bars from fellow artist Wretch 32, who I know has collaborated with Simz before, and I don't personally know of any deep connections between the two prior to the release of this song, but the whole track plays out lyrically like this brother/sister argument with references to their ailing mother, and Wretch 32 in the context of this track is an artist like Simz, but he's spending a lot of time on the road and drinking and just kind of generally being away from the family and not keeping up with his sister and not keeping up with his mom and not keeping up with everyone else. He's mostly MIA and this has caused a lot of distance and a lot of bitterness and it is a genuinely heart wrenching interaction. Sort of hearing the feelings from both sides of this dichotomy. I mean some moments of it do feel maybe a bit too performative, like when they both say at the same time "I lowkey felt you were the favorite."

Like what is this, a Disney movie?

Still though, there is something genuinely touching there in this song that really makes for one of the most powerful and impactful tracks in Simz's entire discography.

We also have the title track of the record with Yusef Dayes and the wonderful Michael Kiwanuka, which is a fiery cut where in a lot of ways Simz kind of sets the record straight. There is a sentiment communicated here that is not too unlike a few songs on the back end of Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, where Simz essentially says, despite being an artist who makes a lot of very heady, cerebral, thoughtful music tracks that address the social ills of the world, Simz is not seeking for her audience to put it on her shoulders to solve all of the world's problems and all of her fans' problems. And over that she chooses self preservation, which I do think there is a legitimate debate around from both sides. But I do feel like Simz puts her case in at least a very compelling way here.

Following this, the song "Lonely" ties up a lot of the album's major themes, especially in relation to this creative connection that is now gone, with a lot of this track being devoted to Simz kind of struggling through the process of making a new record in a much different dichotomy and state, feeling more alone than she ever has in her creative process. Though I will say, looking into the liner notes of this record, she did have a fair amount of collaborators going into this project. Still, that is not to say that there isn't legitimacy to the feelings on this track and that they're not communicated well. And the song does feel like a genuinely triumphant moment where she's overcoming this obstacle and sort of overcoming this fear in her head, like, oh, can I actually do this with more of the responsibility being on me this time? And I mean, you know, considering how good this album came out, the answer to that question is very much yes.

We also have a beautiful and powerful closer on here featuring Sampha, which in a lot of ways is sort of like this, you know, very mellow acoustic afterthought. I'm very glad these two have crossed over once again. And despite this track being so stripped back and so acoustic, I do think it does a better job than "Peace", for example, in terms of just staying engaging from beginning to end.

But yes, a very somber finish to this Simz album, one that I think in some respects is going to be a bit of a tough sell, or – due to some of its experimentation and very mellow, low key, moody tracks – might leave some fans scratching their heads. But make no mistake, this is still a very well put together, impressive, well written album from Simz. One that comes from the heart in an album that to me feels like it was more for her than anyone else. Because I feel like a lot of these tracks just kind of came from a need to document and process what understandably was probably a very low point in her life. And making an album like this was probably one of the only ways of making her way through it.

And it's amazing that she was able to do so while balancing the demands of making a record that has great bars and production throughout. And in a lot of ways I feel like we ended up with a project that is kind of the converse to her last major album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, because now I feel like kind of many of the takeaways of this record revolve around the importance of connection and again friends and family and people who actually support you and foster your wellbeing and creativity.

So outside of a handful of moments that felt a little underwhelming or paled in comparison to others, I think Simz made another great record here, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Little Simz, Forever.