Jorja Smith 'Falling Or Flying' Shows Growth & Maturity Despite Some Monotony

The first few years of Jorja Smith’s career have been a whirlwind. At just 20-years-old, off the strength of a couple of brilliant singles, the British singer found herself delivering a show-stopping performance on “Get It Together” from Drake’s More Life album. With rumors that the two briefly dated — which Drake seemingly addressed on Scorpion a year later — Smith entered a hellish news cycle that she couldn’t escape.

Just before that, Smith released her debut Lost & Found, which showcased her mature songwriting and her supple vocals as she easily made her way through piercing ballads and jazzy experiments. She had found her forte, but with such little life experience and so much thrown at her all at once, it’s understandable that her follow-up album falling or flying took over five years to arrive.

Half a decade can lead to a lot of changes in a person’s life, which Smith ponders on the lead single “Try Me.” Her anger combusts on the hook where she sings that “Nothing is ever enough” as she denies having ever switched up on anybody. The song fiercely allows Smith to let her emotions pour out, hinting that she’s got a lot on her chest she needs to let out. However the zeal with which she approaches the rest of the album is mostly relegated to the front half.

The first five songs see Smith experimenting more with both sounds and topics she hasn’t touched on in the past, leading to some of her best work yet. “Little Things” infuses the breakneck pace of UK Garage with her sultry vocals to incredible results, showcasing a more fiery side to Smith that she doesn’t regularly put on display. “Feelings,” the second collaboration of the year between J Hus and Smith, paints them both as vulnerable and lustful as they wade through the steamy Caribbean-influenced beat.

Though most of the welcome sonic explorations work, “GO GO GO” feels inert thanks to a lifeless combination of acoustic strings and radio-friendly drums. It tries to fit in thematically with its focus on a well-deserved break-up ,but it can’t escape a mediocre chorus where she repeats “Now” more times than necessary. Similarly, its follow-up track, “try and fit in,” reverses finance-bro ideologies as she scorns her lover for being more in love with his deepening pockets than their waning chemistry.

Luckily, Smith’s songwriting abilities don’t falter often. The passionate title track finds her in a state of limbo singing: “I don’t know where you are, but I don’t wanna go to sleep, babe /I know you care, but please, don’t take it easy on me, babe / I could be fallin’ or flyin’, I wouldn’t know the differеnce.” The uncertainty in her lyrics, and anxiety in her voice, add to the stress of not knowing whether she’ll end up with a man who can’t make up his mind.

Smith clearly has a lot on her mind. From singing about gaslighters on “broken is the man” to debating the future with a man she now fights with regularly on “Lately,” the tracks in the latter half all deal with various issues in her romantic life. Though she relies on ballads to bring the album home, the tracks seem to blend in with each other, dragging the last run into a brief lull.

Despite the somewhat lethargic back half, falling or flying ends on a high note thanks to a powerful set of closing tracks in “Backwards” and “What if my heart beats faster.” Smith is clearly maturing and unafraid to sing about both her failings and her partners but her sincerity can sometimes get bogged down by uninspired instrumentals. At her most emotional, Smith is a vocal and lyrical powerhouse whose peak is still yet to come.