There are umpteen reasons why an artist might choose to suddenly release a new album with little in the way of advance promotion or even warning. In the case of Simbiatu "Simbi" Abisola Abiola Ajikawo. the sudden arrival of No Thank You, less than eight weeks after she won the Mercury prize for its predecessor, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, seems to mostly involve getting things off her chest. “I figured this is the moment,” she offers on opener Angel, “I got to speak now.” What she has to speak about largely revolves around the twin topics of the music business and mental health, two subjects that tie in with recent news stories about the 28-year-old rapper. Earlier this year, she parted company with her manager of seven years. It isn’t entirely clear if a lot of the more pointed lyrics on No Thank You are aimed at him, but it certainly sounds like they might be: “Why did I give you the keys to authorise shit on my behalf? What did I expect from those living the corporate life?” she asks at one point. Meanwhile, in April, she cancelled a prospective US tour. She cited financial reasons, but added: “I’m just not able to put myself through this mental stress.”
Whatever their foundation in her own life, the subjects weave their way through most of No Thank You. Simz sounds righteously angry about both. She’s addressed the subject of mental health before in her work, but never quite as bluntly as on Broken, which shifts from a neat summation of depression’s ability to quietly get its claws into you – “Man, this week has been tough / I’ve been saying it for a year” – to the plaintive question, “Why is mental health a taboo in the Black community?” Meanwhile, the music business gets an extended kicking, particularly when it comes to its dealings with artists of colour: “Undervalued, underappreciated in the workplace, why give you my ideas in the first place?” she asks on X.
On No Thank You, Little Simz peels back the curtain on her success of the past year, showing that it hasn’t been as glamorous as one would think given the critical acclaim of her last project.With album opener “Angel,” she honors her own “Angel,” her late friend Harry Uzoka, while taking aim at those in the industry who attempt to use her name and her image to benefit personally. “Why did I give you the keys to authorize s*** on my behalf? / Now I’m scarred and mortified,” she says honestly, later adding, “I refuse to be on a slave ship / Give me all my masters and lower your wages.” She shares a similar sentiment on “No Merci”: “Everybody here getting money off my name / Irony is, I’m the only one not getting paid.” The pointed lyrics could be a reference to a reported split with her longtime manager in October following her Mercury Prize win, which neither have publicly commented on. No Thank You contains a wide variety of sonic and lyrical content, from exploring generational trauma on “Broken” to keeping your eyes on the future on “Who Even Cares.” The project is much more than a collection of leftovers from her last album-creation cycle; it’s Little Simz’s way of speaking her mind as clearly and as urgently as possible at this career juncture.
