A clue as to where Little Simz belongs in the musical pantheon is in the outro jazz soundtrack that plays as the audience filters out after her powerful show:Miles Davis’ seminalKind of Blue.Simz’ influences and ambitions far transcend any narrow genre definition.
Little Simz’ Sydney set was powerful.Janie Barrett
From the Afrobeat ofPoint and Kill through the Delfonics-inflectedTwo Worlds Apart via the nu-disco groove ofProtect My Energy,Simz delivers a whirlwind musical education while tying the sound together with a distinctive flow and ebullient stage presence.
Ebullience is not usually associated with rap but Simz isn’t your usual rapper. While guns and violence feature as themes,theirs is a mournful presence given sober consideration.
She does dark,too – the walls ooze menace as she performs viral hitVenom – but it is a mysterious darkness,not a debasement.
Rather,the night’s overarching mood is joyous,grateful,even spiritual as she invokes God and higher forces in crowd favouritesIntrovertand set highlightGorilla.This series of crowd favourites comes back-to-back in the middle of the 90-minute set and are the night’s peak experience;a glimpse of the artist fully flexing her powers.
Little Simz has celebratory,informed,empowering sound that is uniquely her own.Janie Barrett
What comes before and after this pinnacle is no slouch – but while the sonic range remains clever and varied throughout,the subject matter of her songs can sometimes feel predictable:a struggling artist trying to make her way.
Not that the audience minds much – as the show moves to its conclusion there are frequent interludes of audience adulation,repaid by Simz’ seeming astonishment at the crowd (together with a flattering comparison of the Sydney crowd with Melbourne’s) and by her performance of set-closerWoman.
By this stage of the night,the crowd has well and truly responded to the instruction to “make some noise”,and the word-for-word lyrical rendition comes more from the audience than the stage. It is a noise and a song that,more than any other,embodies what Simz looks set to achieve in her career:a celebratory,informed,empowering sound that is uniquely her own.
Miles Davis,make some space.
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