Jorja Smith

Jorja Smith was born on June 11, 1997 in Walsall, West Midlands, England, to a Jamaican-British musician father and an English mother who worked as a jewellery designer. Growing up in a household shaped by music and craft, she began writing her own songs at age 11, developing a voice and sensibility that drew on classic soul, R&B, and the sounds of the British streets around her.

She released her debut single "Blue Lights" in 2016 at 18 years old, a song that placed her immediately at the center of a conversation about policing, surveillance, and the experience of growing up Black and young in Britain. Its directness and emotional precision announced her as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation.

Her 2018 debut album Lost & Found peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and earned her the Brit Critics' Choice Award. A Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and the Brit Award for Best British Female Artist followed in 2019, cementing her status as a major force in contemporary British music.

Her second studio album, Falling or Flying (2023), expanded her sonic palette into jazz-inflected R&B, alternative soul, and traces of UK garage, demonstrating a restless refusal to be confined to a single sound. She has collaborated widely across genres, including a 2025 single with rapper AJ Tracey.

In 2026, marking a decade since "Blue Lights," Smith contributed the lead single "Price of It All" to the soundtrack of the Amazon Prime Video series Bait, a track she had originally written years earlier as a would-be Bond theme. She co-headlined London's All Points East festival alongside Tems and opened for Harry Styles in Mexico City, confirming her position among the most vital British artists of her generation.