The Mercury Prize, the annual award for best British or Irish album of the year, had its ceremony postponed last month following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but a makeup ceremony was held on Tuesday (10/18), and Little Simz's excellent 2021 album Sometimes I Might be Introvert took home the prize.
Simz beat out 11 other nominees on the shortlist for the 2022 prize, including Wet Leg, Self Esteem, Yard Act, Harry Styles, Gwenno, Sam Fender, Nova Twins, Kojey Radical, Joy Crookes, Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler, and Fergus McCreadie.
Watch Simz perform "How Did You Get Here?" at the ceremony, and stream the whole album, which was one of our favorite albums of 2021, below. About it, we wrote:
Having released one of the best albums of 2019, some may have wondered how Little Simz would follow up GREY Area. Clearly, she was not one of those, and now that album feels like just an appetizer for this. Even if you didn't look at Sometimes I Might Be Introvert's 65-minute runtime or 19-song tracklist, it only takes about 10 seconds of the title track / opening cut to realize the scope, ambition, confidence and sheer talent at play here. Working once again with producer and SAULT svengali Inflo (as well as regular collaborator Cleo Sol and Obongjayar), this isn't an album, it's a globe-trotting epic full of sweep and swagger, orchestrated battle royales, intimate character moments, showstopping choreographed set-pieces and joyous bacchanals. Little Simz is writer, director and star, is in full control, never lacks focus, has incredible flow, and sticks the landing. And unlike some works of this scale, it's over too soon. As for how she'll follow this one up, it's not for us to worry, only for us to wait.
