Jorja Smith

SINGER-SONGWRITER

What is perhaps most remarkable about Smith isn’t that she’s a precociously talented singer, or that she had duetted with both Drake and Kendrick Lamar and opened a major North American tour for Bruno Mars before she’d even released her debut album. It’s that the young Brit did it all before she was 21 years old. “Lost & Found,” released in June, is a combination of classic and contemporary sounds, mixing Amy Winehouse, Sade and a little bit of Erykah Badu. She began writing her own songs at 11 and uploaded her first song, “Blue Lights,” to Soundcloud when she was 17; a label deal quickly ensued. In England, she’s already a star — the album debuted at No. 3 on the British charts and is one of just two debuts on the shortlist for the country’s prestigious Mercury Prize. Smith will start her first major headlining North American tour in November.