Jorja Smith serenades Rock City on first leg of her sell-out tour

"I love that you’re all singing along, I’m still not used to it", beams a somewhat shy Jorja Smith. The rapturous crowd responds with cheers and applause, in adoration for the humbly talented young singer. They’re affirming her success. They’re telling her: "Jorja from the West Midlands, you are the biggest artist to emerge from British soul in recent years, and you deserve that stage."

A sell-out UK tour is now one more string that soul artist Jorja Smith can add to her musical bow. Having only recently broken the surface of the British soul scene, Smith can already boast collaborations with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Maverick Sabre, Preditah, Stormzy and Kali Uchis, as well as releasing her deput EP Project 11, and as of 2018, her first album 'Lost and Found'. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Jorja has achieved all this by the age of 21.

Whilst some of us 21 year olds are revising for uni exams and slurping pot noodles every night, Jorja Smith embarks on her tour in venues across the UK, Europe and America (I know which I’d rather be doing).

On this particular night, her and special guest Mina Rose, grace Rock City in Nottingham. The packed out venue hums with excited chatter as fans jostle to get a good view of the microphone stand taking centre stage. Hundreds of pairs of eyes dart around the set for any sign of movement other than the swirling ribbons of smoke caught in the glare of spotlights. Moments later a DJ steps out confidently, signalling the start of South London born support act, Mina Rose. The singer strides onstage to an already dancing crowd, smiling and jumping. A fresh mix of reggae, pop and soul erupts onstage as Mina performs songs such as 'Kingdom', 'Lemons and Limes' and 'Blind Man Dreams' from her EP 'London Burning'. The far-out and nostalgic style of her music charmed the crowd and introduced Nottingham to the vibrant genre of London reggae and garage.

With the stage once again empty, the atmosphere reverts to restless anticipation. An impatient crowd sparks the chant "Jorja, Jorja, Jorja", followed by a cheer as her talented band quietly assemble themselves. A drummer, bassist, guitarist and keyboard player settle into a steady and rhythmic instrumental which seems to last a short eternity. It’s not until Jorja Smith emerges from the shadowy set to beam at her fans does the opening song materialize. The breezy tones of the first track on her album, 'Lost and Found' resonates from the sultry singer and her band. It’s difficult not to feel star-struck at this point, as Jorja passes her heavy-lidded gaze from one face to the next, smiling as she sings. This is her way of introducing herself.

Two minutes of airy vocals and romantic bluesy-ness later, the singer briefly welcomes the crowd and launches into songs two and three: 'Teenage Fantasy' and 'Where Did I Go?' Evidently more rehearsed than the opening song, fans belt out the singles word for word, arduously trying to match the lofty notes that Smith so effortlessly sings. Next comes the twinkly and whimsical 'February 3rd', a delicate, acoustic track that was released a month prior to the rest of her album. She glides through the song with a subtle sensuality, while the audience echo the verses.

'On Your Own' and 'The One' are performed next, with Jorja taking a short instrumental as an opportunity to dance, before returning to the microphone for an isolated bridge accompanied by the bass drum. The violins that open 'The One' demand attention for a song that quite possibly has the potential to be a Bond track (it wouldn’t be the first time the singer is featured on a film soundtrack). Smith takes full control of the classical and headstrong tones of the song, which mimic the strong-willed lyrics. The audience breaks its reverie when the organ synthesia of 'Blue Lights' drifts from across the stage, accompanied with the heady blue haze of smoky spotlights and strobes. This is the loudest the audience have sung yet, with the politically-charged lyrics backed by an inventive soul rhythm proving to be a favourite. When hearing this song, you can’t help but picture a 17-year-old Jorja, sat in front of her camera at home, singing what she didn’t realise was going to be echoed back to her by 1000 fans in a packed out gig, 4 years later.

After the energetic delivery of 'Blue Lights', the singer performed her experimental freestyle 'Lifeboats', to the familiar sample of Loyle Carner’s 'Damselfly'. With only a few fans knowing the words to this one, Jorja was able to perform almost entirely solo. To the audience’s surprise, Smith also sang 'I Am', her record featured on Marvel’s Black Panther film soundtrack (and produced by none other than Kendrick Lamar), as well as a clever mash up of Rihanna’s 'Man Down', and recent hip hop star Cardi B’s 'Be Careful'. The bouncy and soulful set was infused by gorgeously melancholic ballads such as 'Goodbyes', 'Tomorrow' and 'Don’t Watch Me Cry', which had the audience pouring out their hearts in unison whilst Jorja serenaded from under a single blue spotlight. 'Let me Down' was performed with powerful sincerity, as well as an extra verse written by Jorja, in place of Stormzy’s original bars.

As the penultimate song 'Something in the way', faded into a jazzy, slower tempo rendition of 'On My Mind', Smith thanked everyone for having her, thanked her band (which received a hearty cheer from the audience) and then grinned, "Let’s have a party for our last song". As the Preditah remix dropped, there wasn’t a single person in the venue who wasn’t dancing. Jorja Smith certainly knows how to end a show on a high, and this popular garage tune was just the way to do it. With 10 more shows to perform across Europe and America, the Walsall star is certainly keeping herself busy and if her Nottingham gig was anything to go by, everyone else is in for a treat.

- Jorja released her debut single ‘Blue Lights’ in 2015 at the age of 18.

- In 2016, she released her four-track EP Project 11

- In 2017, Smith performed as a special guest on Drake’s Boy Meets World tour

- In the same year she was nominated for Brit Critics Choice Award (which she later won)

- In June of 2018, her debut album ‘Lost and Found’ was released and she began her first solo tour.

Listen to Lost & Found here on Spotify.