British singer-songwriter Jorja Smith will be on the cover of Elle magazine, and she has a lot to celebrate. Beyond the interview there’s much more. She’s won a BRIT Award, is headlining the best festivals and has just been announced as the new Dior Beauty ambassador.
In the last four years, she’s had a meteoric ascent. Jorja grew up in Walsall, West Midlands. At just 18, she moved to London to live with her aunt and uncle, transferring to a different branch of Starbucks. In January 2016, she released her first single “Blue Lights” on SoundCloud, with more than 400,000 listens within the month, she went viral.
Since then, she’s worked with Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Stormzy. Her debut album Lost & Found earned her both Grammy and Mercury award nominations. In February, she brought home the BRIT Award for Best Female Solo Artist.
This summer she’ll be headlining festivals like Field Day and playing at Glastonbury. Add the fact that she’s just been announced as the new Dior Beauty Ambassador, following Bella Hadid and Natalie Portman. Now, she speaks with friend and model Adwoa Aboah, for the latest issue of Elle.
Aboah told her when she sings, she reminds her of Amy Winehouse. “There was a time when she sang songs that were so part of a time in her life, but then she had to continue to sing them all the time. It was like she was being brought back to those situations.” she said.
Jorja explained how she understands that feeling, but she also said she’s good at acting and things are fine. “On tour last year – it wasn’t that I didn’t want to sing, but so much had happened in such a short space of time and I was working so hard – it was too much.” But she did it for their fans, she wanted to give them a show to remember forever, she affirmed.
The two friends also discussed about being mixed-race, and what means for young girl seeing her as a model to be inspired. Smith said she’s very natural so when girls at school used to see her they said ‘Oh – I look like her!’ She also remembered how Sarah-Jane Crawford of BBC Radio 1Xtra, was her idol. “She’s mixed race. She has these really beautiful lips and she used to wear bright red lipstick.”
Jorja told Adowa how difficult was for her doing photo shoots. “When I first moved to London from Walsall, I remember once telling my manager that I didn’t ever wear shorts or skirts. Photo shoots have kind of helped, because I do so many shoots where they only have clothes in sample sizes available, and I’m not sample size.”
She was young and fragile, but now she’s gained that confidence, ignoring all the comments on Instagram – she don’t care what people thinks about it. “When I met Stormzy, he said, ‘If you like it, that’s all that matters’.”
Finally she also said last year was very busy for her, and she lost creativity, so now she wants have more time for herself, watching more cool films and getting references from them for songs or music videos.
She also said “I’m just learning more about myself. I overthink a lot and have battles with my own mind; it’s good to write about it.” Check out the full interview here, and be sure to check the photoshoot for Elle below.
#Peace.Love.JorjaSmith
