Jorja Smith falling or flying review
Music, Sounds

Jorja Smith, Falling or Flying: REVIEW

by Dave MacIntyre

“The British singer-songwriter’s sophomore LP sees her attempting to make a more expansive and mature album than her debut, five years later.”

Jorja Smith, Falling or Flying (Famm)

When the harsh realities of fame and fortune start bogging you down, how do you make art about it? Jorja Smith attempts to answer this question on her second album (and her follow-up to 2018’s Lost & Found), Falling or Flying. Recorded after she’d moved from London back to her hometown of Walsall, a town in the West Midlands with a population of 67,000, Smith’s sophomore LP sees her attempting to make her most expansive and mature album yet. Results are mostly positive, but some may vary.

Though it’s an interesting look into how Smith’s artistic evolution has taken shape five years after her debut, it feels a little all over the place (the pop-punk-ish “GO GO GO” is a bizarre detour, for example), and the album’s middle section feels considerably weaker than its start (“Try Me”, the dancefloor heater “Little Things”) and end (penultimate track “Backwards” is a definite standout). Falling or Flying is a decent second effort from Smith, but could’ve benefitted from trimming some of its fat, and the five-year gap from her debut can leave some wanting more. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Little Things”

Jorja Smith, Falling or Flying: REVIEW

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Posted in Music, Sounds

by Dave MacIntyre

Contributing editor for Music
Dave MacIntyre is a Montreal-based freelance journalist. His primary topic of interest is music, but is equally comfortable writing about sports, current events, and Montreal-related initiatives. Outside of Cult MTL, his bylines can be found in publications like BeatRoute and Northern Transmissions. And no, he is not related to Reba, nor to the WWE wrestler Drew, nor to Joey from New Kids on the Block.