Since her breakout record Lost & Found in 2019, Jorja Smith has been quietly figuring out her next move. On this spring’s new EP, Be Right Back, she’s still expanding her sound and riding the line between pop, R&B, and hip-hop. That’s the blueprint for our new era of pop stars, but Smith also had the jumpstart of a co-sign from Drake on his 2017 project More Life to get her going, which never hurts. On today’s new video for “All Of This,” a song with the Ghanaian DJ and record producer GuiltyBeatz that’s inspired by Amapiano, a South African style of house music.
Leaning into the Afrobeat genre is a great next move for Smith, and the new single is a bit of a departure from her more straightforward EP. Jorja talked about meeting Guilty in Jamaica and how the song came about in a press release. “I met [Guilty] when I went over to Port Antonio in Jamaica for a writing camp in 2019,” she said. “He’s so wonderful to work with and when we initially started the song, it was more a fall to the floor type beat. He’s shared Amapiano playlists with me before and then during the first lockdown in 2020, he sent me a version of the song like it is now. We then finished writing the song remotely, exchanging messages over WhatsApp with his girlfriend Abby who is also a writer. It’s all about someone who doesn’t deserve you and thinking wow, you really had all of my once, ew.”
Check out the new track above.
