
★★★★☆
Just fifteen months since the release of her highly-acclaimed Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Little Simz drops graceful new album, NO THANK YOU.Best new artist at the BRITS. Mercury Prize winner. And, whether you believe an award can be evenly split or not, winner of the best album at the MOBOs just two weeks ago. It’s fair to say Little Simz – the moniker of Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo – has had quite the year, reaping the rewards from her incisive 2021 album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. So when the Islington-born rapper announced less than a week ago that a new album would be dropping before the year was up, of course it was met with adulation. But perhaps, if you’re a slight cynic like me, the news posed a question too: why release something else when the ink has barely settled on your latest prize? Why not just bask in all this year’s accomplishments a little longer, take your time and create even more anticipation around a follow-up, à la Stormzy, Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar?

Little Simz won the Mercury Prize for Sometimes I Might Be Introvert earlier this year.


Little Simz performing at the BRIT Awards earlier this year, where she won Best New Artist.