By Surreal Dusk 21/12/2022 (OP-ED)
Recently one of the UK’s best artists Little Simz decided to bless the 2022 music year by surprise releasing her newest album “NO THANK YOU”. This comes fairly shortly after her album last year “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (SIMBI)” which created an explosion of attention and acclaim for her in the underground and hardcore music scene. With its luscious, epic production with heavy orchestral elements mixed with some of Simz most personal songwriting and best vocal performances, it’s not hard to see why her magnum opus of an album drew in so much praise. It’s an album that demands audiences search it out rather than trying to meet audiences where they're already at.
So, what did we get with this recent album? Well, we got something that's similar in some ways to SIMBI but in other ways is an entirely different beast. I've seen some people just write it off as a sequel where it’s just more of the same such as Bandana to Piniata or Late registration to the college dropout but I’m here to let you know that just like with those examples, there is truth to the claim at the surface but you are stupid to use that claim as a way to ignore them because there is still a lot of great tracks and new ideas to be found on NO THANK YOU.
Given that where approaching list season and everybody's either already put out their end-of-year lists or their just choosing to spend the holidays with friends and family rather than seeking out new music it’s easy to understand why this album has fallen a bit under the radar but you shouldn’t let that happen to you and here’s why
Firstly let's talk about the production. From a sound perspective, this is kind of like a marriage between her past two albums. It has the orchestral elements of SIMBI but it also it also has a fair bit of midi production and sample chopping which feels closer to “GREY Area” to me.
The biggest comparison difference between NO THANK YOU and SIMBI is NO THANK YOU is a far slower album. At first, this sounds like a bad thing but I think it’s actually a really good thing. Mabey it’s the post-rock fan part of me talking here but I think these slower-structured songs allow for a far more rewarding listening experience that really takes you across a journey on every track. A song can start somewhere and then end in a completely different place which is something that not really that common in hip-hop. SIMBI demands you pay attention to it, NO THANK YOU simply rewards you for doing so.
In terms of some of my favourite moments across the album, i loved the funny synth on “No Merci”, the way the brass section just smacks you in the face on the opening track “Gorilla”, the backing singers on “Silhouette” and the energetic percussion on “X”.
Next it’s important to talk about the lyrics. Given Simz obvious talent, it shouldn't be too surprising to anyone that this album is full of great songwriting. SIMBI was a very personal album heavily focused on both introspection and identity. This new album instead chooses to focus on the music industry with a number of stories from Simz perspective about how she’s navigated through this industry trying to make the best art she can within a system that’s trying to destroy any vision or identity you have within you for their own financial benefit. This album is a joy from a lyrical perspective and it’s heavily rewarding to listen to the words Simz raps.
While I do think this album is great there are a few minor complaints I have about it. In the second half of the album, there are a few tracks that I just don’t care that much about. Firstly there's “Sideways” which despite only being two minutes comes across as pretty annoying as the vocal chop is a bit too repetitive and overall just doesn’t sound that great to begin with. While I respect Simz attempting to incorporate elements of autotune on “Who even cares” I just don’t think it really works out for the better. And then the final track I have some complaints about is “Broken”. While the idea of a seven-minute Simz track is extremely exciting I just don’t think it quite worked out here. Firstly the vocal sample plays far too many times to the point where it gets quite boring. And in terms of the nitpick of the year I would have to say that I think the hi-hats of this song are mixed distractingly high. Even with those complaints however there are still some positive things to note about this track including Simz excellent verses and the gorgeous outro to the track.
So overall I think that this is a great album that you're doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check it out. It’s filled with some of the year's best rap tracks complete with stellar production and top-notch lyricism. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the years over before it actually is because you could miss out on some stuff that is definitely worth your time!
You can listen to it here: here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syaYvz2PCL0&list=PLluZQCi5D-7W55ZSVggPdCy-22eQwMFJD&index=1
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