Little Simz Trades Grandeur for Rawness on ‘Lotus’ — and the Songs Cut Deeper

Little Simz has made the most personal record of her career, and it sounds like it. Lotus, her sixth studio album, strips back the polish of her earlier work for something rawer and more direct. The result is a 49-minute project that earned widespread acclaim, with Metacritic assigning it an average score of 86, indicating “universal acclaim.”

Opening With Thief

The album opens with “Thief,” a four-minute statement of intent that sets the tone for what follows. It is lean, unfussy, and built around her voice rather than elaborate production. “Flood” follows at under three minutes, a brief but potent burst that shows she can land a punch quickly. “Young” and “Only” continue the early momentum, with the latter earning its place among the tracks critics singled out.

“Free” and “Peace” form the middle stretch, both hovering around the four-minute mark. They are quieter, more reflective, and they work because Simz never overstates the emotion. “Hollow” and “Lion” tighten the grip again; “Lion” in particular stands out as one of the record’s most forceful moments. “Enough” arrives at track nine, a three-minute meditation that critics flagged as a highlight, and it earns that attention.

The Centerpiece and the Close

The title track “Lotus” is the album’s centerpiece, running six and a half minutes. It is the longest song here, and it justifies its length by letting the arrangement breathe. Pitchfork noted that the record largely forgoes the cinematic flair of Simz’s previous records, with unfussy arrangements drawing from jazz, Afrobeat, and rock. That approach is nowhere more evident than on this track.

The final stretch pairs “Lonely” with “Blue,” two songs that lean into the diary-entry quality that NME described. The review noted that “Lotus isn’t always an easy listen, and sometimes the truths in its bars feel more like diary entries than rap lyrics, but maybe that’s its purpose.” That purpose is clear by the time the record closes.

The Critics’ Take

Uncut put it simply: “Little Simz’ identity shines through on this bold, vibrant and genre-busting record.” That identity is the whole point here. Reviewers broadly described the album as the rapper stripping back the polish for her most vulnerable, soul-searching project yet, one that hits hard even when it drifts.

A Lived-In Record

Lotus is not always comfortable. It trades spectacle for honesty, and sometimes the bars read more like confessions than performances. But that is the record’s strength.

Simz has made an album that feels lived-in, one that rewards attention without demanding it. The production stays out of her way. The songs are short where they need to be and long where they earn it. The track list flows in a clear arc, from the opening strike of “Thief” to the closing ache of “Blue.”

The diary entries NME heard in these bars are not a flaw. They are the reason the record holds together — a rapper at her most exposed, and at her most direct.

album review · Little Simz · Lotus · new music · UK rap