An hour of Little Simz, celebrating new album Lotus, which came out on 6th June.
For a lucky few, Little Simz played an intimate PA live performance in Bristol on 9th June.
When I say "few", i's a measure of Little Simz' hard earned and well deserved success that these days, an "intimate" performance is playing to several thousand people in a coverted warehouse along the Feeder Canal, a few miles from the city centre.
And not just one performance, but two: a matinee and an evening show.
And this wasn't just any old PA, this was a full on hour of performing on stage (and, at one point, in the crowd), an 18-song set that included a generous dip into crowd pleasers and deep cuts.
Little Simz doesn't need a full band, visuals and pyrotechnics, she had the audience in the palm of her hand, though it's fair to say that everyone was up for it from the start. I mean, really up for it.
Little Simz is the most exciting, authentic, honest, humble, generous artist around today.
And Lotus is a(nother) bloody brilliant album from a rapper at the top of their game.
For no other reason than mild curiosity, I decided to follow the steps of my blogging compadres and play around with ChatGPT for this one.
I asked for an AI review as a rap, written by a 16-year old Bristolian and this is what it came up with. It's pretty bad, but some of the groaningly awkward rhymes made me chuckle.
It's not lost on me however that it was all done in a split second, whilst this ham-fisted blogger spent considerably more time just copying, pasting and formatting the very same into this post...
See if you can spot where Artificial Intelligence mistook Little Simz for The Sims. Oh, the irony.
Yo, check it, yo, yo
Little Simz dropped that Lotus on the 6th of June,
Had the whole scene buzzin’, that album a monsoon,
But Bristol got lucky, 9th June, real tight,
Simz hit the stage, man, the vibe was so right.
She ain't just playin', nah, she’s puttin' in work,
Two shows, one matinee, one night time perk
Crowd was massive, but still felt like it’s close,
A few thousand deep, but she got that vibe that’s so dope.
It ain't no regular PA, she brought the heat,
An hour on stage, she got the crowd on their feet,
Premiere Lotus, half the album in the set,
18 tracks deep, no cap, you ain't forget.
She don’t need no band, no fancy lights,
Just the mic in her hand, and she killed that night,
Thief and Flood, they came with mad energy,
Audience locked in, full of raw synergy.
She went back to the classics, don’t forget,
Two Worlds Apart, Point And Kill, no sweat,
Woman hit hard, crowd was feelin' the flow,
Simz got them vibin’ everywhere she go.
Drop 7 EP, yeah, she brought that too,
Grey Area was in the mix, Venom got ’em wild, dude,
Crowd was hype, no dips in the vibe,
Simz kept it real, got the crowd so alive.
She's authentic, humble, that’s the truth,
No gimmicks, just real talk from the booth,
Lotus the album, another banger she made,
Simz at the top, she don’t need no parade.
She a queen in the game, no one do it like this,
Every line she spits, man, it's pure bliss.
Bristol knows what's up, they saw it firsthand,
Simz takin’ over, this the rise of the fam.
Today's Dubhed selection recreates the 18-song set from the Bristol PA. Seven songs from Lotus, which I have, and four from the Drop 7 EP, which I don't. For the latter, I've swapped out with a trio of bootleg remixes, plus a live performance from Glastonbury.
For the trio of tracks from Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, I've included just one studio original, the other two performed live for the BBC. The rest are taken from their respective digital releases. Being Little Simz, all of them are brilliant.
1) Thief (2025)
2) Flood (ft. Obongjayar & Moonchild Sanelly) (2025)
3) Two Worlds Apart (Album Version ft. Cleo Sol) (2021)
4) Young (2025)
5) 101 FM (2019)
6) Venom (Album Version) (2019)
7) Mood Swings (IsGwan Edit By Isaac Walker) (2024)
8) Torch (Next To Blue & canary yellow Edit By Tim Gouin & Canary Mark) (2024)
9) Fever (Bad Friends Flip) (Remix By Noah Tate & Hugo Shaw) (2024)
10) S.O.S. (Live @ Glastonbury Festival ft. Jakwob) (2024)
11) Only (ft. Lydia Kitto) (2025)
12) Lion (ft. Obongjayar) (2025)
13) Point And Kill (Live Lounge Session ft. Obongjayar) (2021)
14) Free (2025)
15) Lonely (2025)
16) Selfish (ft. Cleo Sol) (2019)
17) Woman (Live @ Later... With Jools Holland, BBC TV) (2021)
18) Gorilla (2022)
2019: GREY Area: 5, 6, 16
2021: Later... With Jools Holland EP (bootleg MP3): 17
2021: Live Lounge EP (BBC Radio 1, 13 September 2021) (bootleg MP3): 13
2021: Sometimes I Might Be Introvert: 3
2022: No Thank You: 18
2024: Fever EP: 9
2024: Little Simz Edit Pack EP: 8
2024: Live At Glastonbury 2024 (bootleg MP3): 10
2024: Whine & Stop / Mood Swings EP: 7
2025: Lotus: 1, 2, 4, 11, 12, 14, 15
"Yo, check it, yo, yo"? Is that really what 16 year old Bristolians say?
ReplyDeleteNot now, Ernie, not 40-odd years ago when I was one!
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