Introduction to Jorja Smith on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert

By http://www.thecomeupshow.com  Creative Commons 

By: Lola Conopio-Mora

Singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is a highly talented and soulful R&B artist and it showed when she performed at NPR's the Tiny Desk. She displayed this in her second song, “Teenage Fantasy,” which she wrote when she was 16. The now 21-year-old singer, exemplifies the power and feeling in her voice during the chorus of the song. She closes her show with the song, “Blue Lights,” which she wrote to examine social stereotypes and impressively does so.

After her first song,”On My Mind,” she introduces the band and explains how the Tiny Desk is their last stop of a long tour. She seems to have a very warm and welcoming character. She shows this part of herself when she smiles and talks. Her voice is very calm, at ease and tranquil, while her smile shows her joy and happiness to be there performing.

The second song she performed, “Teenage Fantasy,” has a bit of a jazz vibe. The lyrics convey a feeling of confusion and see her contemplating a romantic decision: “I was warned by my brothers to find another lover/ Stop falling for these boys who didn’t want the same as me/ We all want a teenage fantasy/ Want it when we can’t have it/ When we got it we don’t seem to want it.” The closer song, “Blue Lights,” questions the social stereotypes that society has created. The lyrics: “Don’t you run when you hear the sirens coming/ When you hear the sirens running you better not run/ ‘Cause the sirens not coming for you,” show the fear that social stereotypes have made. The lyrics: “Gun crime into your right and/ Drugs and violence into your left/Before our headphones flooding / The order into a subconscious waves you accept,” communicate the harm stereotypes have done in today’s society.

Video: https://www.npr.org/2018/06/11/618198232/jorja-smith-tiny-desk-concert