From Starbucks to queen of the hipsters... Black Country teenager Jorja Smith is defining her generation
She has blossomed into one of the world's most exciting prospects in the music industry in recent months after collaborating with rap superstar Drake among others.
Now, Walsall's teenage star Jorja Smith has been voted in a prestigious list celebrating the globe's biggest stars in youth culture.
The 19-year-old, who worked at Starbucks a year ago, is polled at number 11 in the Dazed 100 chart – which combines the best young people who 'shape youth culture for the year ahead'.
She has already featured in the BBC's Sound Of poll and opened her Coming Home Tour at the O2 Academy in Birmingham last weekend.
Previous winners of the Dazed 100 competition, by Dazed magazine, include famous American model Kendall Jenner, the sister of Kim Kardashian. And from musicians to models to artists in countries across the globe, she is up against the likes of young Stranger Things actors Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown.
Smith also performs on US rapper Drake's new album More Life, featuring on track Get It Together.
While the track before called Jorja Interlude is named after her.
The album, which was released on March 18, is still number one in the Apple Music charts above Ed Sheeran's hit album Divide. In February, Jorja and Drake popped into the Co-operative supermarket in Broadway, Walsall, fresh from two sell-out performances by the latter at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham. It was just days after Drake was awarded Best International Artist at the Brit Awards. Jorja has wanted to be a singer since the age of eight – and her father was a singer with soul outfit Second Naicha.
"And FKA Twigs helped a lot when I moved to London and worked at Starbucks and had to get up at four o'clock to get to work at six."
Her songs Blue Lights, Beautiful Little Fools, Where Did I Go? and Carry Me Home have racked up over 10,000,000 hits on digital music service Spotify. She finished her six-date tour at the Gorilla in Manchester last night. The teenager's profile on the Dazed 100 reads: "Unafraid to be overtly political, she first blew up with her debut 'Blue Lights', a 2016 track about police brutality that sampled Dizzee Rascal's 'Sirens'.
"Drake, who describes Smith's music as 'introspective soul', isn't her only fan – the teen has collaborated with the likes of Maverick Sabre, Cadenza and Dre Island."
To vote for Jorja, go to www.dazeddigital.com/dazed100 or follow her on Twitter at @JorjaSmith
