In Defense of Jorja Smith

This piece was originally published October 22, 2018 on Medium.com/@LainaLovestein

In this current climate of R&B, I’m kind of confused about the uproar most people have about the state of the genre. You have so many options. This is the first time in probably 20 years where we really have multiple subgenres within R&B.

You have the girls who make cute little bops. ‘Boo’d Up’ was a great song, presented with a nostalgic essence. The synthesizers were reminiscent of new jack swing, ref. ‘I Like’, by Guy. This made 16 year olds and aunties alike want to engage in a good little hip swing while singing along. This was both a positive and a negative. Most felt it lacked depth because of the presentation. The writing was smart, very well thought out, and formulaic. It stuck with, obviously.

Behind the next door, you have the deep vibe girls. It’s roots are in the neo-soul movement but Jhene’ Aiko is really the Godmother to this sub-genre. A lot of people don’t credit her enough in the Holy Trinity that brought this whole wave of R&B to surface. Jhene’, Frank Ocean, & The Weeknd all released their ‘debut’ projects within a month of each other in 2011. It was a new sound and birthed a lot of our current favorites. SZA, Danileigh, Ari Lennox to name a few. She empowered the girls who loved Erykah but needed age appropriate content to relate to. Most of didn’t understand ‘Bag Lady’ until our mid 20s but we were able to sing ‘Stranger’ with conviction because of our college boos.

You the traditionalist girls who are HERE with the vocals but with an alternative edge. H.E.R is one of my favorites. She had the aesthetic that the cool kids look for but can sing with the best of them. Gabby got it, and we all know it. A few more ladies I’d put in this category is Summer Walker, Jade Novah, & Teyanna Taylor.

Behind this team, you have the ladies who can’t even be put in a box. They have different songs that don’t fit into the various descriptions mentioned above. Sadly, any girl that doesn’t fit in some boxes are labeled boring. One person that comes to mind immediately in that arena is Elle Varner.

Elle made songs that were simple melodically, but lyrically skilled. ‘Refill’ was cute, it also had a whole metaphor that went over the casual listeners head. No, ‘Refill’ was not about liquor. It was about a girl who was so enamored by conversation with a new guy that she literally was drunk. Love drunk, but drunk nonetheless. The ‘conversational lush’ line was clever.

But after one album, folk weren’t giving her the props she deserved as a songwriter and an artist. Random tidbit: she released her debut, ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ practically a month after Frank Ocean released ‘Channel Orange’ in 2012. She could have set a new standard if her music was considered in another category of R&B.

Her latest single, ‘Loving U Blind’ is damn near a country song. A beautiful one at that. But when you don’t fit in boxes, most tend to just throw you to the wayside or just don’t mess with you at all. Which brings me to my point.

‘Lost & Found’, the title track from Jorja’s debut, is a crafted tale about young love and the insecurity that comes along with it. Time goes on, you eventually realize it’s just an idea and not worth the stress at the end of the day. Common themes in most of our favorite R&B songs.

Through the whole album, we see these themes and hear songs that explore these topics in a sophisticated way.

Jorja doesn’t completely depress us. She doesn’t get grim, or make us feel bad for being in these situations regarding matters of the heart. She’s mellow and honest. Honestly, I enjoyed her angst in ‘Teenage Fantasy’ more than the average ‘woe is me’ bop.

‘Don’t Watch Me Cry’ is a song that pretty much says “Aye, I ain’t sad cause you gone. Just sad because we had potential.”. That’s the type of energy I need. Allow me to have this moment and move along.

‘Lifeboats (Freestyle)’ is also a song that shows her versatility as an artist. I was pleasantly surprised to hear her mama spittin’ a little 16 bars in the song. She transitioned perfectly between both rapping and singing “Why do we all fall does when there’s a reason we can stay afloat?”

Is she pretty? Yes.

Is that all she has to offer musically? Not at all.

Let’s give more artist the benefit of the doubt before writing them off as boring or dismissing them without even giving them a chance. There are so many artist that I know I’ve didn’t give a fair shot to because of the general opinion of the internet. Tragic groupthink. The internet isn’t the judge nor jury of things we should like or rock with.

Give new things a shot, you might find something you like in the middle of all the yip yap.