English R&B singer Jorja Smith released a new single “Gone,” ahead of her new album Be Right Back. This is the artist’s’ first album since her 2018 debut Lost & Found. 

The album will be released on May 14, 2021. Smith will release Be Right Back on FAMM, the same label she released Lost & Found. The tracklist includes seven other songs in addition to “Gone,” including “Addicted,” which Smith released in March 2021 with a music video. Track three on the album includes a feature by Shaybo, a hip hop artist from South London. Shaybo and Smith have collaborated before. 

Smith’s Be Right Back follows a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s called be right back because it’s just something I want my fans to have right now, this isn’t an album and these songs wouldn’t have made it. If I needed to make these songs, then someone needs to hear them too,” she said. 

The new single, “Gone,” opens with low-key piano and a modern, driving beat. Smith enters the song with her trademark conversational melody. Her voice lifts above the piano and drum kit before jumping into an inquiring chorus–– “How can my world be much better off without ya?”

The song is an interrogation of how the subject can exist in the wake of a loss. “There’s something about being able to write about one thing and for it to mean so many different things to others. I love that this song, well any of my songs really, will be interpreted in different ways, depending on the experiences of the people listening. This one is just me asking why people have to be taken from us,” said Smith. 

Though Smith was forced to cancel her 2020 tour dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she kept busy by participating in live music streaming events. Read more about mxdwn’s coverage of the Glastonbury Festival here. Smith is also set to perform at the Primavera Sound Festival  in Barcelona. Smith has two tour dates planned for the future, in May and August of 2021.

BE RIGHT BACK TRACKLIST

1. Addicted 
2. Gone 
3. Bussdown (feat. Shaybo)
4. Time
5. Home 
6. Burn
7. Digging 
8. Weekend 

You can pre-order her new album, Be Right Back here.

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schultz