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PHOTO BY LIZ JOHNSON ARTUR

Jorja Smith wants you to feel. Today (Sept. 29), the 26-year-old released her sophomore album, Falling or Flying, a multigenre project where the English singer-songwriter expresses her innermost thoughts on attraction, imperfections and escapism. On lead single “Try Me,” Smith soulfully bellows out her opposition against naysayers. Follow-up “Little Things” is a rhapsodic and flirtatious nightclub meet-cute tale where Smith doesn’t hide her spontaneity.

The DAMEDAME*-produced tracks effectively represent Smith, who relocated from the bustle of London back to her hometown of Walsall for creative focus. “I just feel like I have a life there. I’m not in the bubble in London, so that’s helped a lot, just being back home, more grounded, just balanced,” she tells EDITION.

PHOTO BY ROMANY FRANCESCA

What songs from the album would you say embody where you are as a woman right now?

I could say ‘Try Me.’ I feel like that song is very foot in the ground and quite sure of who I am right now. Then there’s ‘Falling or Flying’ and ‘Feelings,’ which are quite sexy.

Falling or Flying is the follow-up to 2018’s Lost & Found album. PHOTOS BY MIKE EXCEL

When I listened to the album, it’s a different vibe from your previous work, which were mostly ballads. What made you want to explore different sounds this time?

The songs from my first album, they’re from 16 to 18 [years old]. I’m 26 now. I’m not just a ballad-y person; that’s what I’ve put out, but I’ll literally jump on anything I love and anything that makes me feel something. I have so many songs from years of just making music, and with this album, [I made] it with my friends and we’re just having fun. Not that I haven’t had fun before, but I’m just in a different space; there was no agenda. We just went with what felt right.

A lot of your songs are very romantic too. Were there any aspects of your dating life that shaped the album?

Lots of songs I’ve tried to write about other people or things— and some [are] just about friends of mine. I could be trying to write about someone I’ve been speaking to, but then it’ll end up actually talking about myself, which is quite funny. That’s why there’s loads of self-realizations on this album.

Falling or Flying is the follow-up to 2018’s Lost & Found album. PHOTOS BY MIKE EXCEL

Were there any songs that you wrote on this album that tested your vulnerability?

Obviously, writing songs is vulnerable, but I don’t ever feel it in music; music is my safe space. I say what I want between songs. It’s a nice cushion between interviews and talking, because that’s when I’m like, ‘f--k.’

PHOTO BY IVOR ALICE

“MUSIC IS MY SAFE SPACE. I SAY WHAT I WANT BETWEEN SONGS.” –JORJA SMITH

Now that you are well into your career, how are you adjusting to fame? How do you practice self-love?

Because I’m very critical of myself, I need to get better at being kinder to myself. If I’m in a good space with myself, I kind of don’t really mind what’s going on behind the scenes, online, whatever. But if I’m feeling negative about myself, if I see certain comments that are talking about negative things I’m feeling, they’ll make me feel even worse. So that’s what I’m trying to work on, it’s just more about how I deal with how I feel about myself.