The first track on Little Simz’s new album ends with the words: “Your truth unveils with time/ As you embark on a journey/ Of what it takes to be a woman.” “Journey” conveys the essence of Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, as the British rapper’s new record takes its listeners on many of them: a journey through various musical styles, through the inner life of an introvert, and her own childhood memories and family history.

“Little Simz invites us to travel with her through a range of music genres, from soul, through afrobeat, to epic orchestral film scores.”

In her new album, Little Simz invites us to travel with her through a range of music genres, from soul, through afrobeat, to epic orchestral film scores. This genre diversity makes Sometimes I Might Be Introvert the rapper’s most multifarious record to date. She is not afraid to experiment and refuses to limit her work to narrow conventions. The cover of the album depicts Little Simz sitting on a throne dressed in a flashy suit. However, here, instead of being sat with her head high like the audience would expect from a queen on her throne, the rapper is curled up, looking away from the eye of the camera. The rapper-queen in the photo seems a little unsure of herself, shying away from the limelight that inevitably comes with her role.

The cover of the album encapsulates the main concept behind Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. It shows the constant fight between the two energies inside Little Simz that can be heard on the album: the introverted, calmer spirit with the extroverted, more dynamic one. Tracks such as “Two Worlds Apart″ or “I See You” show the rapper’s more sensitive and quieter side with their tranquil cadence, while the more aggressive beats of “Speed” or “Rollin Stone” reveal that Little Simz might sometimes be an extrovert too.

“Profound introspection has led her to explore warmer, more light-hearted sounds”

Introspection and retrospection are the lifeblood of Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. On this record, Little Simz digs deep into herself and explores painful chapters from her life, such as the relationship with her father and her struggle with living up to the expectations of her previous album’s success. Contrary to what one would expect, this profound introspection has led her to explore warmer, more light-hearted sounds. The rawness and violence of the sounds of GREY Area and Stillness In Wonderland disappear in Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. It seems that their edges get smoothed, and the anger that could be heard in tracks like “Picture Perfect″ or “Venom” becomes transformed into a certain kind of reconciliation with oneself. After all, the album ends with the track “Miss Understood” which explores the idea of the (im)possibility of being understood. Here, Little Simz seems to suggest that understanding herself means accepting the fact that she will always be, in one way or the other, misunderstood. Coming to terms with this has clearly eased some of her earlier angst.

Listeners may find interludes recited by the British actress Emma Corrin (known for her role of Princess Diana in The Crown) quite jarring. And, while it may seem at first that these tracks are a little detached conceptually from the rest of the record, if we consider them in the context of Little Simz’s entire body of work, we can see that they enter into a dialogue with her 2017 album inspired by Alice in Wonderland that featured Cheshire Cat’s interludes.

Corrin’s interludes on the 2021 record may be in part responsible for the chaotic feel of the album. Especially after the first listen, Little Simz’s new record seems to want to achieve too many things at once. But personally, I believe that this amalgamation of different forms and styles reveals Little Simz’s ambitiousness, non-conformity in her artistic decisions, and astounding ease in moving between different musical styles.

Genre-wise, this latest album is still somewhere in a grey area, but it is precisely its in-betweenness that makes it such a fascinating record. As the cover of Sometimes I Might Be Introvert suggests, Little Simz may not be yet ready to become a queen, but she is certainly not the Alice walking aimlessly around Wonderland from her first albums anymore.