搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）?

翻譯：WhitneyL

校正：Ryan-Chopin

沃爾薩爾式R&B的候選人Jorja Smith證明了為她的首專開足馬力是正確的。

School coursework has little to no bearing to where most of us are right now. For?Jorja Smith, however, it proved to be everything. Influenced by research she was doing in school about racial discrimination towards fellow students, she dropped a?Dizzee Rascal-sampling number on Soundcloud in early 2016. It was picked up by?Stormzy?and?Skrillex?upon release (she attracts fans in high places, and in March 2017 linked up with?Drake?on a couple of choice cuts his?‘More Life’?“playlist”). Ever since, she’s been plotting a global takeover.

在校期間，學(xué)校中的課業(yè)與我們大多數(shù)人現(xiàn)在所處的情況幾乎沒有關(guān)系。然而，對(duì)Jorja Smith來說，這成就了一切。2016年初，由于在校期間，她對(duì)同學(xué)們關(guān)于種族歧視方面的問題進(jìn)行了意見收集，這刺激了她，使她在云錄制上釋出了令人眼花繚亂的混音音樂。這首歌（“Blue Light”）剛發(fā)行時(shí)就被Stormzy和Skrillex收錄了(她一下就吸引了很多粉絲，并且在2017年3月，她和Drake進(jìn)行了合作，Drake的專輯《More Life》中就有幾首他們合作的杰作)。從那以后，她一直在著手于將自己推向全球市場(chǎng)。

It culminates in this, ‘Lost & Found’, the Walsall native’s debut album, which comes off the back of a pretty magnificent year. She dropped huge garage-banger ‘On My Mind’ in September, bagged the BRITs Critics Choice Award in February and ended up co-writing a song with?Kendrick Lamar?on the acclaimed?Black Panther?soundtrack that same month. Few rising British acts have had a meteoric rise quite as rapid as Smith’s.

《Lost & Found》是這位沃爾索爾女孩的首張專輯，在這輝煌的一年中，這張專輯風(fēng)光無限。今年9月(文章寫于2018年)，她發(fā)行了”On My Mind”這首混有大量數(shù)碼音樂元素的歌曲，在今年2月獲得了全英音樂樂評(píng)人選擇獎(jiǎng)，并與Kendrick Lamar合作，創(chuàng)作了一首廣受好評(píng)的電影”Black Panther(黑豹)”原聲帶歌曲。很少有發(fā)展中的英國藝人能夠像Smith這樣迅速崛起。

It’s disappointing, then, that ‘Lost & Found’ doesn’t match those dizzying heights. The album’s peak is still her breakout single, the languid ‘Blue Lights’, which proves that Smith is not just an elite performer, but a relatable songwriter who can pair issues like racial profiling (“You better not run ’cause the sirens not coming for you/What have you done?)? and getting ticked off at school (“Kept after class for answering back/You apologized, where’s the harm in that?”).

令人失望的是，《Lost & Found》并沒有達(dá)到令人景仰的高度。這張專輯的巔峰仍然是她獨(dú)領(lǐng)風(fēng)騷的單曲“Blue Lights”,這證明了Smith不僅僅是富有天賦的表演者,而且是一位能夠引起人們共鳴的作曲家,她能夠揭露那些關(guān)于種族歧視的現(xiàn)實(shí)問題, (例如歌詞“你最好不要跑因?yàn)榫觳⒉皇莵砭饶愕?你做了什么?”)又如在學(xué)校中挨了一頓揍 (例如歌詞“放學(xué)別跑/你為什么要道歉,怎么了,打著哪了?”)。

Her last two singles, the?throwback ‘On My Mind’ – a up-tempo pop hit that’s her most exhilarating work to date– and weighty Stormzy collaboration ‘Let Me Down’, have both been left off this album.?Instead, it often relies too heavily on the jazz-tinged R&B formula she mastered with ‘Lost & Found’. This is a shame, because the record is far more entertaining when she deviates from the template. Take ‘Lifeboats (Freestyle)’, on which Smith ups the pace for an energetic, politically-charged freestyle that references the migrant crisis in Europe: “If there’s a reason we can stay afloat/Why do we watch them drown?” The personality she displays here far beats out the vague sloganeering on songs like ‘Goodbyes’: (“Goodbyes, good times/L O V E is all for you“).

關(guān)于她最近的兩首單曲：”On My Mind”,一首快節(jié)奏的流行音樂,并且被認(rèn)為是迄今為止最令人振奮的杰作;以及”Let Me Down”,這首歌是與重量級(jí)歌手Stromzy一同創(chuàng)作完成的,但都沒有收錄在這張專輯中。相反，這些歌過于依賴于她在《Lost & Found》這張專輯中爵士風(fēng)格的R&B套路。這難免成為一種遺憾，因?yàn)楫?dāng)她偏離固定的套路時(shí)，唱片就會(huì)變得有趣得多。以”Lifeboats (Freestyle)”為例，Smith在這首歌中加快了節(jié)奏，以一種充滿活力的節(jié)拍和具有政治意味的freestyle表達(dá)了對(duì)歐洲移民危機(jī)的看法: “如果有什么辦法我們可以浮在水上/我們?yōu)槭裁匆粗麄兡缤?”她在這里所展現(xiàn)的才能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)勝過“Goodbye”等歌曲中含糊的口號(hào)(例如歌詞“再見,那些美好的時(shí)光/L O V E 都是為你所說”)。

It’s clear that Smith has done her homework, though, with shades of icons such as Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse scattered throughout the album. This is most notable on ‘February 3rd’, where her soothing voice is pushed to its limit over a glitchy, playful beat that’d sit nicely on James Blake’s debut album. ‘Where Did I Go?’, meanwhile, is a sleek combination of wicked melodies and bouncing beats.?

很明顯，Smith已經(jīng)完成了她的功課,不過,像Lauryn Hill和Amy Winehouse這樣的偶像影子散落在整張專輯中。在這張專輯中,最值得注意的是“February 3rd”，在這首歌中,她悠長的聲音被推到極限，這些閃光而有趣的節(jié)拍與James Blake的首張專輯也可完美的融合。另外還有，“Where Did I Go?”這首歌就是不羈旋律和跳動(dòng)節(jié)奏的結(jié)合。

Smith’s made the grade on this serviceable first record ‘Lost & Found’, and the path to her becoming Britain’s next global export is looking pretty clear. If only it was made to feel less of a drag.

Smith在《Lost & Found》她這首張專輯上取得了不錯(cuò)的成績，這為Smith成為下一個(gè)英國國際性出口品牌鋪平了道路。當(dāng)然,其實(shí)也只是減少了一點(diǎn)阻力而已。