Album Review: Lotus by Little Simz

Expansive in scope yet intimate in tone, the sixth album by this year’s Meltdown curator doesn’t put a foot wrong Little Simz might just be one of the most prolific and important artists of our generation. In an era where vision can often be diluted by noise, she remains resolutely focused, crafting three albums in the past five years that, for many artists, would constitute a career-defining peak, and yet you get the sense that she's only just scratched the surface of her boundless talent. The Meltdown 2025 curator’s latest offering, Lotus, only deepens the sense that we are witnessing an artist still ascending.

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Little Simz has begun a legal battle over allegedly unpaid loans against longtime friend and producer Inflo; for as masterful as Little Simz' and SAULT's discographies are, and for how intertwined they have been, this is a musical lose-lose for the listening world. Simz announcing this dispute and releasing an album in tandem is certainly the most chaotic rollout of 2025, one which could have seen a catastrophe of personal drama cascade through her craft. Instead, Lotus is an affirmation representative of her talent: the best revenge is just being better.

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Little Simz is a trailblazer. Many will have first recognised the London rapper and actor via her Mercury Prize-winning album, 2021's Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. But her journey up to now goes much deeper. Shortly before releasing her debut album A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, Kendrick Lamar was already citing Simz as "the illest [rapper] around right now".

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Little Simz is - and, really, has always been - far from a straightforward artist. From the curtain-raising orchestral pomp of 'Introvert' (the pseudo title track of her Mercury Prize-winning 2021 album), to the nostalgia-tinged bounce of '101 FM' (lifted from 2019's 'GREY Area’) and beyond, she's constantly sought to redefine the parameters of rap and reaffirm its place at the vanguard of mainstream music. She's also well used to collaboration, possessing the artistic generosity and industry nous to engineer perfectly-pitched features that enhance her own spotlight, not dim it.

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Awakening the artist's exploration of her sonically expansive sound ability, Little Simz goes deeper than surface-level experimentation – she unleashes a talent that can accumulate everything she has to say in possibly her best album yet. As expressed in her chicken shop date interview with Amelia Dimoldberg , she describes the album title 'Lotus' as a personal metaphor for her journey. Simz tells Amelia, "Regardless of where you grew up or what you've been through, you can still become something extraordinary." The album opens with track one, 'Thief', a heavy bassline and electric guitar motif that welcomes in Little Simz in her punk-driven tone that asserts the depth of her album from the outset.

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The sixth album from Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo, AKA the multiple award-winning rapper Little Simz, is in parts deeply reflective and elsewhere light-hearted and amusing - but it's consistently innovative. The two lead singles demonstrate these two approaches: while Flood is charged with anger and fuelled by a relentless bassline, Free has a relaxed, summery feel, offering us a respite from the intense emotions of the album. The other songs were under embargo at press time, but Simz takes on several different genres, handling punk, samba and soul.

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