Jorja Smith What Are The Odds Album Review

UK artist Jorja Smith is back on the scene with her new album What Are The Odds. It marks her third studio album and her first as a fully independent artist. She’s a distinct voice in the UK scene, with her signature warm and smoky vocals. This album takes what Smith has done so well in the past, whilst completely immersing herself in the dance floor.

What Are The Odds sees the artist, alongside producer P2J expand on sounds they’ve tapped into before, diving deeper into the worlds of UK garage, grime, 2-step, UK funky and house.

The first single from the album “What’s Done is Done”, released on May 15, completely set the tone for what this next era of music from Jorja would encompass. The track is high in energy from the outset, so much so that you can’t help but want to move to it. Together with P2J, the duo has managed to balance the electronic layers and bouncy percussion lines alongside the singer’s rich vocal tones. Here, she still brings the same soul and emotional depth to her vocals that we know her for, despite moving futher into the world of dance.

Each track on the album seamlessly flows into the next, creating an incredibly cohesive body of work that strikes the perfect balance between high-energy dance music and emotional vulnerability.

The album takes sounds and ideas that Smith has flirted with before, and jumps in even further. The title track “What Are The Odds” sees her incorporate a spoken rap-style verse, a sound she’s dipped into on collaborations like “Crush” with AJ Tracey. Similarly, she builds on sounds heard on earlier tracks like “Little Things”, pushing further into the UK garage and UK funky influences that worked so well on those records. The most recent single “I Lied You Lied” highlights how well this sound works beneath Smith’s vocals. Interestingly, “Little Things” sparked the first collaboration between Jorja and P2J, showcasing how naturally the pair worked together to create music that is both danceable and emotionally engaging.

While we hear blends of electronic, house, hip hop, garage and so much more on this album, Smith never wavers in her ability to write with emotional depth, carried by her soulful tone that maintains a sense of vulnerability on the dance floor. She explores feelings of grief, betrayal, friendship and self-discovery, in some of her most honest writing yet. The track “This City” featuring Devlin sees the singer opening herself up in this way, singing “sold the dream of a home it’s a lie / no you don’t understand it’s this city.” She doesn’t shy away from getting vulnerable, as “The Way It Was” explores Smith moving through past relationships and experiences in a liberating way, dancing through the weight of them in an act of catharsis.

One of the album’s highlights is the track “Dancing”, which not surprisingly is built to get you moving. The rhythm of the melody sits perfectly atop a bouncy bassline. Again, Smith reflects on past experiences, but uses dancing to move through these feelings with a sense of freedom, as she sings “we used to be lovers, but it’s been a while / take me for one last dance again.”

If Jorja Smith’s previous work dipped a foot in the world of dance, house and garage music, What Are The Odds sees her dive right in. She doesn’t hesitate to move between different sounds within a range of genres, all the while maintaining her authenticity and distinct tone.

The album feels like an act of letting go for the artist, as she looks at what has led her to where she is now, finding solace on the dance floor. It feels like liberation, like self-reflection, and certainly like Jorja Smith at her best.