On the day I am supposed to meet Simbiatu Ajikawo,
aka the 28-year-old musician and actress Little Simz, a
Saharan dust storm has turned the London sky a murky
orange. When it starts raining dust and the city is blank-
eted in a deep sepia, it feels like an apocalyptic vibe shift
is on its way and I’m not surprised that Simz cancels our
in-person date. She’s someone who has been driven by a
powerful intuition throughout her life, and when she’s
not feeling it she won’t force it. We later catch up on
Zoom and she tells me: “I’ve come to accept that I’m
prone to burnout. And it’s not because I’m doing a lot,
it’s the amount it actually takes for me to do the things
I do. I’m a hypersensitive person and if there’s a shift in
weather it can happen. At the start of a new season, a
transition, it’s a physical adjustment for me.”
I was hoping at least to see Simz’s face on our call, but
instead a black screen with the words “Introvert 94” stares
back at me as we talk. It’s frustrating not to be able to
connect visually, given the depth of the conversation. But
in many ways I respect her boundaries. And, quite
honestly, these days Simz can afford to call the shots. She
won an Ivor Novello award for her third studio album,
2019’s Grey Area, and her fourth, Sometimes I Might Be
Introvert, was released to critical acclaim last year. Shebecame the first woman to sell out three nights at the O2
Academy Brixton in south London, and after a show-
stopping Prada and Gucci-clad performance at the Brits,
where she won best new artist (despite having been in the
game for more than ten years), Spotify streams of her
music spiked 365 per cent. Add to this her role in the new
season of Top Boy, which was the No 1 trending show on
Netflix on its release in March, and there’s no denying
that Simz is at the white-hot centre of culture right now.
She expands on the role intuition has played in her
career: “It’s everything. I’ve got it tattooed on my right
leg. The further you get along in your career, the easier
it is to start overthinking every little thing because you
know that more people are watching and you don’t
want to get it wrong. But I don’t sweat the small stuff
and I do things based on feeling. If it doesn’t feel right,
it doesn’t feel right.”
Simz grew up in north London (where we shot her
for this interview; she is an Arsenal fan), on a council
estate with her mum, Tola, a foster carer, and her three
older siblings. Despite being naturally shy, something
she addresses on Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, she
embraced performing arts and began honing her talents
at a youth club in Islington. As a teenager, she starred in‘I knew no one
was going to
hand me
this. I had to
work hard’
A standout performance at the Brits and a starring role in
Top Boy – 2022 is shaping up to be Little Simz’s best year yet.
Next on the list? Conquering America, she tells Lotte Jeffs
Photographs Danika Magdelena Styling Verity Parker18 • The Sunday Times Style