If you have paid any attention to music over the past ten years, chances are pretty high you have come across Jorja Smith. Maybe it was in 2016, when she released Blue Lights, the debut single, that first put her on the map. Maybe it was through one of her collaborations with Giggs, Burna Boy oder Stormzy, her contribution to Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther (2018) soundtrack or one of the tours she has played with Drake, Bruno Mars and, most recently, Harry Styles.
There are a lot of big names in that list. But the reason Smith has remained so interesting for the past decade has much more to do with what she does on her own. Taking early inspiration from artists like Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys and Sade, she has created a sound that never really stays in one place. Neither do the things she writes about. Social issues can sit next to heartbreak, friendship next to grief, the big questions in life next to the smaller feelings that are sometimes much harder to explain.
Her third studio album, What Are The Odds, released today, continues exactly there, only this time you might want to dance to it. Moving through UK funky, garage and club sounds, Smith sings about friendships, grief, love, transformation and growing up. Alive, featuring Wizkid, already gave us an idea of what to expect, quickly becoming one of her most listened to songs within weeks of its release.
Ahead of What Are The Odds, we sat down with Smith to talk about making eight songs in two days, what to do when she has writer’s block, what her friends would say about her and why, after ten years in music, doing exactly what she wants might still be the only right thing.
AMELIE BACHERT Let’s play a game. What are the odds that you’re the last one to leave a party?
JORJA SMITH Oh, very high. I like anything like UK funky, garage, drum and bass, jungle, some dancehall… Or if we want to do some slow dancing, like lovers rock, some reggae. I’ll leave when the lights are turning on.
AB What are the odds that you’d steal something on tour?
JS Unlikely. I’m a goody two shoes. I might see something that I like backstage and ask for it. I’m touring with Harry Styles right now; I haven’t seen anything here yet. But when I was in Morocco, there were some candles my mum wanted, for example.
AB What are the odds that luck exists?
JS I think luck exists, yeah. But so does fate. Maybe it’s all just one thing and we gave it different names.
AB Okay, last one: What are the odds that you’re stranded on a deserted island and the only item you have with you is Amy Winehouse’s Frank?
JS (laughs) I think I’ve said something like that before. If I could choose now, I would take an endless supply of water. A notepad and pen. And a phone that had signal and a battery that never dies.
AB Well, that would make the situation easier for sure. You’re releasing your new album What Are The Odds today, congrats! What’s the best line we have to look out for?
JS Oh my God, there’s so many. There’s one off the top of my head. It’s not the best. But I love it because I just see myself as a 16-year-old again. It’s very nostalgic: “We were staying over chasing summers. When did we grow up and change?”
AB Are you talking to a specific person in that line?
JS A few. You know, just when you grow apart from people.
AB Your album is a lot about friendship and change. But also about grief and self discovery. All these big emotions in life.
JS Yes, definitely. The whole album is just about relationships in a way. Relationships with friends, old friends, past relationships, relationships with myself. I write about what’s going on in my life, and that is what’s going on in my life.
AB So, you’re looking a lot into the past here, and how it brought you to where you are now. Would you consider yourself a nostalgic person?
JS I like dreaming and also just thinking about the past in general. With the album, we’ve got a good balance of nostalgia and reality. We’ve got a bit of UK funky, grime, garage, but also really present elements.
AB How did the album come together, and what has changed for you since then?
JS So, we started working on the album in September 2025. And then we finished in April 2026. It’s the quickest I’ve ever done something. Since P2J produced Little Things in 2023, we were going back and forth about making a dance project of, you know, four or five tracks together. So, we’d been chatting for two years about that until we finally got in the studio. And when I got into his studio in East London, he had all this music. As soon as he played everything, I just thought, “Oh my God, let me start singing!” I just felt it so much. So, in two days we did eight songs.
AB Eight songs in two days? That’s really impressive!
JS It was crazy. And even though it was originally planned as a smaller project, there was this one point where I said, “This has to be an album.”
AB It shows how naturally something like that can happen.
JS Yeah, everything was super natural, organic. The only pressure we had was suddenly the deadline after we decided it was going to be an album. Because to hit the vinyl deadline, to have something physical to put out together with the digital, you have to be ready way earlier. But except for that, everything was super natural. It felt amazing. Because sometimes I can take a while to write a song. Sometimes I’m trying to write about something, but it hasn’t happened in my life yet. That’s when I often struggle.
AB Can you give me an example?
JS I had a song ages ago called Backwards that I couldn’t write because what I was singing about hadn’t happened to me yet. Then things happened in my life, and I was like, “Oh, this is what I’m trying to say.” I think subconsciously, I often know what I need before I actually do it. So, for this album, I decided to do it in a different way by bringing in friends and people I love working with, like Maverick Sabre, Ed Thomas, Hope and Millie from The KTNA, und Clementine Douglas, who helped co-write Alive. I like doing things myself, but I love collaborating. It gives the project so many new perspectives. So many amazing conversations came out of writing with friends.
AB I love that. Because ultimately, that’s one way of making sure you stay honest in your music.
JS Exactly. And sometimes it feels a bit like manifesting as well. It’s kind of annoying.
AB You often work with friends, or the other way around, work relationships develop into friendships. How do you think your friends from the music industry would describe you in three words?
JS Gosh, gosh, I don’t know. I’m quite a humble girl. You would need to ask them yourself.
AB To come back to the deadline you suddenly had with What Are The Odds, do you think pressure can help creativity?
JS No. I don’t like pressure. I feel like creativity should have no ceilings or, like, you should just be free. So I don’t really like it.
AB I feel like pressure can block your mind sometimes. Do you ever happen to have writer’s block?
JS That’s the thing. I don’t write constantly. I used to find it hard when I had a studio booked but woke up not wanting to write. Now I just go with how I feel. If I have writer’s block, I just stop. I don’t force it.
AB I’ve met many artists who prefer working under pressure. It’s so interesting and so subjective. What’s your own controversial opinion when it comes to music?
JS I just do what I want. Maybe that’s controversial to some people, but I create what I love and what I’m drawn to. This album is very dance heavy, and I know some day one listeners might prefer to hear me with just a piano. That’s fine. We change and evolve. This is where I am in my life right now, and this is the music I’m making.
AB In the end, an artist is always making the music for themselves as well, right?
JS Yeah. So, when I make music, it goes out into the world, and it reaches who it needs to reach. That might not be the person who wants to hear it, and that’s fine.
AB You’re never going to satisfy every single person in the world. That’s for sure. So, which song on the album do you think will surprise longtime Jorja Smith listeners the most?
JS People who prefer the more laid back, slow R&B ballad Jorja Smith might be surprised by every single song, to be honest. So, maybe What Are The Odds? Because I’m rapping on that one. And maybe when people actually listen to what I’m singing. I don’t really talk a lot about how I feel. No one really knows until I put it in a song. But there are definitely people who’ve been waiting for me to drop this kind of upbeat project, so that’s exciting.
AB To come back to the beginning: What are the odds that your 16-year-old self would recognise you today?
JS I think my 16-year-old self would look up to me. She’d be like, “Oh my God, I’d love to be doing what she’s doing. She’s brave, she’s strong.” If she saw me in concert, I think she’d be like, “Oh my God, this is what I want to do.”