Lost & Found (album)

Lost & Found is the highly-anticipated debut album by English singer and songwriter Jorja Smith. It was released on 8 June 2018 by FAMM and a follow-up to the 2016 EP,  Project 11. "Blue Lights" was released as promotional on February 26, 2016 and announced as the lead single. Smith unveiled the album title, artwork and the tracklist on April 20.

A two-years-in-the-making project,  Lost & Found will include some of the singles which helped to put Jorja Smith on the map: “Blue Lights”, “Where Did I Go?” and “Teenage Fantasy”. However, it won’t include her successful collaborations with Preditah (“On My Mind”) and Stormzy (“Let Me Down) which both charted in the UK, as well as singles “Beautiful Little Fools” and “A Prince.”

This album comes after a set of high-profile collaborations including Drake, Kali Uchis and Khalid, and a few prestigious awards and distinctions, such as the Brit Critics' Choice Awards and coming 4th place on the BBC Sound of 2017 longlist as well as appearing on the  Black Panther soundtrack curated by Kendrick Lamar in February 2018.

Release and promotion:
Smith released her first single "Blue Lights" in January 2016. It was followed by several songs that year including "Where Did I Go?". On 5 June 2017, Smith released "Teenage Fantasy". She performed unreleased tracks "The One" and "On Your Own" during her set at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 15 April 2018. She announced Lost & Found through her social media accounts on 20 April 2018.

Jorja mentioned in an interview with Julie Adenuga about how she didn’t want any features on her first album, as it should be focused on her and her music.

Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on 15 reviews. Ryan Patrick of Exclaim! praised the album, writing: "With classically trained vocals, storytelling swagger and a knack for melodic invention, Lost & Found serves as both introduction and foundation. The debut offering is laden with contradictions: feels safe yet edgy, simple yet complex, ambitious yet relaxed. It's a solid start for the emerging artist and the foundation for a robust discography." Lewis Lister of Clash described Lost & Found as "a brilliant first draft" while commending the album's production and stylistic blends. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of Financial Times believed the album "comes across as thoughtful and authentic, the true measure of its success" and that it is "a composed piece of work." Simon Edwards of The Line of Best Fit stated that Smith's "debut is skilfully arranged so that most music fans will be able to unearth some element that they can relate to." Leigh Sanders of Express & Star concluded that Lost & Found is "polished with a full sound, a mixture of pop and R&B that sounds intimate and delicate given her often softer approach to vocals. The less-is-more approach to the beats and rhythms power her forward without drowning her out."

Kieren Yates of The Guardian wrote that Lost & Found is "a well-paced album full of gentle vocals, catchy pop hooks and a playful relationship with the pains of youth, love and insecurity. Smith’s voice moves between arrestingly husky and overly nasal, with plenty of room to develop, but the sparse and uninspiring production doesn’t save the songs from feeling forgettable at times. As far as the poetry of trying, failing and picking yourself up again goes, this has merit, but as for staking a claim as pop’s biggest new R&B talent, it doesn’t quite stand five stories tall." For Variety, Jem Aswad wrote that "Although the LP does linger by the exit — the last three tracks all feel like closers — it’s a real album, with an arc and continuity. Lost & Found is one of those rare records that’s adventurous but can also appeal to that aunt or sister-in-law or Grammy voter who finds a new artist they like every 15 years."

In a mixed review, Thomas Smith of NME, believing that the album "often relies too heavily on the jazz-tinged R&B formula", adding that "the record is far more entertaining when she deviates from the template."