Revisiting “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”: Little Simz’s Best Album So Far
The fourth studio album by British rapper Little Simz, “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert,” which is an acronym for her real name, SIMBI, was released on September 3, 2021. Little Simz and her producer, Inflo, worked together to create the record. Almost like a once-in-a-lifetime work, the album is one of those eureka-moment records. This is the kind of work that is produced after years of searching for something greater. Consider the works of Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci, such as “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and “Monalisa.” Little Simz excelled herself on this album.
The album paints diverse pictures of different areas of her life—womanhood, introversion, an absent father, feminism, youth violence, and black struggle. After spending many years in the game, Little Simz dropped this album, which got her many reactions on YouTube, was named the best album of 2021 by Exclaim! and BBC Radio 6 Music, won the 2022 Mercury Prize, was nominated for the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and was included in Rolling Stone’s ranking of the 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time. It was like a crown for all her years of grinding and effort. When I heard her say the following in one of her tracks, “Standing Ovation," I knew she knew how far the album would take her.
I think I need a standin' ovation
Over ten years in the game, I’ve been patient
God has always told me to be myself
Let go and free yourself
Tell the truth and shame Satan
Now I gotta pave the way for the next generation
That’s comin' up under me and I love to see it
Thought I was bluffin’, didn’t see it comin'
Hol' up, think this is cold? You ain’t seen nothin'
The glow up, all they discussin’, but I don’t let it distract me
Load the pen up, cockin' back and get to bussin'
Standin' up to who? I made the scene lie down
Get it how I live it, how it be’s right now
I got another twenty in the shit, I’m cemented
Take over businesses, tell the kids, "Start investin’"
Introversion
According to Merriam-Webster, introversion is the state of or tendency toward being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from one’s mental life; it is a personality trait or style characterized by a preference for or orientation toward one’s thoughts and feelings.
However, a common misperception is that shyness and introversion are synonymous. Another matter entirely is whether or not an introvert may become a well-known artist. In the album’s first track, “Introvert,” Little Simz discusses her introversion.
Simz the artist or Simbi the person?
This clarifies the contradiction that exists in the life of an introvert: the difference between the real and perceived selves. She talks about how being an introvert can be challenging for artists. Under the sweeping orchestration and deliberate production, the album juxtaposes the interior and external aspects of the introvert.
I hate the thought of just being a burden
I hate that these conversations are surfaced
Simz explains how her feelings are a burden to her, which is true for many introverts. Introverts keep to themselves, and rather than sharing their feelings verbally with someone else, they share them through the arts, science, and other means.
I bottle up and then spill it in verses
One day, I’m wordless, next day, I’m a wordsmith
Simz discusses the challenges faced by introverts trying to make a name for themselves in the music business. Simz has received recognition for being the next big thing in the UK music business at one point, but she still harbors an unspoken sadness that she finds difficult to express.
Close to success, but to happiness, I’m the furthest
At night, I wonder if my tears will dry on their own
Hoping I will fulfil Amy’s purpose
However, you need to get out there and be heard, even as an introvert. After spending a considerable amount of time in her shell, she makes it clear that she intends to come out and take her place. She is announcing her determination to “reveal” herself and not let her feelings hold her back anymore, while still holding on to her introversion — talking when she needs to and talking about what truly matters.
I sabotage what we are trying to build
’Cause of feelings I keep inside, but it’s time to reveal (Reveal, reveal)
Feminism
Little Simz discusses feminism and her womanhood. Throughout the album, there is a line about feminism and the significance of women’s strength in our world. Little Simz talks about what it means to be a woman and the strength she has—not just as a woman, but also as a black woman.
Naija women, got the melanin drippin’
L-O-N-D-O-N, city girl livin’
In the back, lookin’ like fire, chili pepper
Yoruba girl tougher than imperial leather
He was gettin’ bitter while she was gettin’ better
Diamonds are forever
Miss Sierra Leone, lookin’ like a gem
Works hard in the week, party on the weekend
Know you wanna live with no one watchin’ how you spend
Got a thing for the finer things and the finer men, hm
She talks about her Nigerian roots and how the women from her tribe, the Yorubas, are strong and tough. She painted the picture of a hardworking lady who works and then decides how she wants her money spent. She sees a liberated woman who is not constrained by social or societal norms.
Little Simz refers to how Ethiopian women, the likes of Alem Kebede and Eténèsh Wassié, have made a great contribution to the Ethiopian jazz scene. In the form of shoutouts, she appreciates the strength and sturdiness of women from all over the world.
It’s clear Little Simz is ready to harness her womanhood and feminism to fuel her reality, escaping the constructs created by the “men’s world.”
Alone, but not lonely
Your truth unveils with time
As you embark on a journey
Of what it takes to be a woman
In April 2021, Simz was asked in an interview with i-D what these lyrics meant to her. She said:
Just feeling empowered, feeling sure in myself, feeling good in myself, not being afraid of myself and my abilities and where I can grow to and what I can be. I’m just trying to push that narrative out there and it’s things that I need to hear from other women. And I wanna be picked up and uplifted so I’m just trying to give that same energy back in hopes that it can uplift others.
African Roots and Black Struggle
“Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” is a hip-hop album, but we can see Little Simz tilting towards Afrobeats and African traditional music in the album. Collaborating with Obongjayar on the track “Point and Kill," the 15th track in the album, the duo dropped an original afrobeat sound.
Having been born into a Yoruba family, Little Simz has always been proud of her African heritage. She did excellently well on the track “Point and Kill,” speaking the Nigerian pidgin and the Yoruba language in some of her lines.
Family no go suffer, oh, inna my lifetime
Dey be fine, do am proper, no lie, lie
Give me strength, let me prosper
Daddy say he want me to be lawyer, be doctor
Riff raff, kini kan, window shopper
Oh, yeah, fine boy, take away Auntie
Bougie, ah, eleyi, o wa fancy
When I see it, I
The next track, “Fear No Man," which was later adopted by EA Sports as the official soundtrack for the FIFA 22 video game, also uses African traditional percussion and idiophones with an African call-and-response style of composition. There’s also a use of Yoruba in this track.
Oya
Come on, fast, fast, I don’t got time
Somebody is waiting for me
Bye
Little Simz talks about the struggle of a black artist in the UK music scene. She recalls all the rejections and “nos!” she has gotten just because of her skin color and the fact that she is a Nigerian-British with dark skin. But, despite all the doubts and rejections flung her way, she still found her way and carved her path.
Nothing in life comes easy and you work twice as hard ’cause you Black
Used to think mum exaggerated ’til the world showed me it’s fact
Still, it’s mine for the takin’, lock the doors and we break in
Still got love for them non-believers, yeah, the ones that said we won’t make it
Everything you want is out there waitin’ for you to take it
The key is to have faith in your dreams and never stop chasin’
And you’ll make it, trust
Instrumentation, Orchestration and Production
The musical technicality behind this album makes me regard it as one of the top 10 UK hip-hop albums of the century. The album utilizes multiple elements from different styles of music. Saying Little Simz outdid herself without mentioning Inflo, her producer, would be a petty injustice. Inflo masterfully uses different musical devices to drive home the musical idea behind the album.
The first track in the album, "Introvert," which I regard as one of the best debut tracks in a hip-hop album of the century, started with a majestic orchestration of snare drums, brass, and voices. The track employs the classical orchestration method (strings, brass, snare drum, ethereal voices) with a mixed hip-hop element of a steady 4/4 drumline.
Throughout the album, there is an intelligent composition of intro and harmonic movements. We can find such perfect intros in “Introvert,” “I Love You, I Hate You,” “Interlude,” “Standing Ovation,” and “How Did You Get Here?”
The use of choral devices is one thing that stands out in the album. This shows that Little Simz, in conjunction with her team, carefully wrote the harmonies for this album. We can find the use of excellent choral devices in “The Rapper That Came To Tea” and “Never Make Promises—Interlude.”
Collaboration
Little Simz didn't take us through this alone, but she did it with the help of her friends and contemporaries, the likes of The Crown’s Emma Corrin, Cleo Sol, Inflo, and Obongjayar.
But Emma Corrin stood out. She was heard throughout the album reciting spoken words with her soothing voice. We can hear her in “Introvert,” as well as appearing in five interludes across the whole album. I must say Emma Corrin is a significant flavor in the album, and without her, some meanings would have been lost.
Little Simz told i-D in April 2021,
I think Emma Corrin is amazing man. She’s really really talented and just a beautiful, genuine, nice soul. Getting her on the record, I just knew that her adding her magic would take it somewhere else, she just has a great voice.
Everything she is saying on the interludes and at the end of ‘Introvert’ are things that everyone should hear; you interpret it and digest it how you want but she was able to narrate it beautifully and in a way that doesn’t feel preachy or like someone’s talking down at you, or you know… something you might even just say to yourself.”
The record “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” is deserving of all the praise and standing ovations. It has two sides to it, though. The artist strives to surpass the bar that they have set for themselves, while on the one hand, they receive all the praise for producing almost flawless work. While some artists never do, some do surpass it and produce better work.
The album is not just a collection of crotchets and semi-quavers on the bar, but a shift in the UK hip-hop scene. To tell the truth, Little Simz outdid herself.
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