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I’m not trying to force my truth on anyone,” Little Simz says firmly. “But I do need to talk about it, for me.”
She’s referring to the shocking dissolution of one of her dearest friendships, which has played out publicly throughout the year. Four months after filing a lawsuit against longtime studio collaborator Dean “Inflo” Cover for allegedly failing to repay a 1.7 million pound loan (roughly $2.2 million), Simz is ready to lift the veil on her side of the implosion. Lotus, out June 6, is her reclamation manifesto — a sonic rendering about ownership of her story, music and confidence.

In the two-and-a-half years since No Thank You, Simz’ fifth studio album and follow-up to 2021’s career-changing Sometimes I Might Be Introvert — which won the 2022 Mercury Prize and scored Simz her first top five entry on the Official U.K. Albums chart — she comfortably settled in among U.K. hip-hop heavyweights, performing at the BAFTA Awards and the Glastonbury festival.

Since launching her career in 2015, Simz had worked closely with Grammy Award-nominated producer Inflo and his wife, acclaimed R&B singer Cleo Sol, frequently joining the couple for collaborations under their Sault moniker. Simz and Inflo met at St. Mary’s Youth Club as children, and the two went on to conquer the U.K. music industry in the years that followed, with Inflo producing three of her albums.

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But in December 2023, according to legal filings, Simz allegedly fronted over $1 million to launch Sault’s first and only live show, during which Inflo and Sol were joined by Simz and Grammy-nominated artist Michael Kiwanuka. But when the debt left her unable to pay her tax liability the next month, according to her filing, something broke inside the rapper.

“I got to a point where I lost my sense of purpose,” she says, carefully choosing her words. “I’m quite an introspective person, especially when it comes to my music. But this time around, it felt harder. Making this album felt like a real breakthrough. I was led by God, my inner child and the Simz that was coming up and had this fire in her belly.”

Lotus — which Simz introduced with the Miles Clinton James-helmed track “Flood” in February — peruses the full spectrum of her emotions throughout her journey to rebuild after one of her closest relationships ended. And on the rambunctious, bluesy album opener, which has yet to be released, she spits: “I’m lucky that I got out now, it’s a shame I really feel sorry for your wife … This person I’ve known my whole life, coming like a devil in disguise.” The song is downright irate — her intonation has rarely been this ferocious — and Simz understood that it was a gamble. “I was really frustrated and hurt, and I wanted to scream,” she says. “But it’s tricky starting off on that foot sometimes.”

To temper the album’s unrelenting moments, Simz explores other relationship dynamics. On one conversational track that feels like a leaked private phone call, she weighs the impact of work and celebrity on family; on a more uptempo cut, she lists the ways her understanding of love has evolved. With more guest stars than any of her previous projects, none of whom she’s ready to reveal, there are a lot of voices on the album, but Simz undoubtedly remains at the center.

Lotus, which she says sources its title from “one of the only flowers that thrive in muddy waters,” prioritizes Simz’ catharsis, but that’s not the only reason it’s such a hard-fought achievement. She tried to complete four other albums since the 2022 release of No Thank You, all to no avail.

“They were great, but it’s more the situation of who I made them with,” she says somewhat wistfully. “In letting go of that relationship, I had to let go of that music… It’s like having a kid with someone; you might split with the person, but you don’t just stop loving the kid.”

Even if those albums are never released, Simz has plenty on the horizon. She will curate London’s Meltdown Festival, taking place June 12-22, which will include her first orchestra-backed live performance. The 11-day undertaking will further cement Simz’ U.K. superstardom, while her U.S. crossover is still taking hold. (Last year, she made her Billboard Hot 100 debut thanks to her feature on Coldplay’s “We Pray,” which hit No. 87.)

Could Lotus be the album to land that jump? Now that Simz has finally regained the confidence to narrate her own story, it very well could be. “I feel like it’s growing slowly but surely,” she says, “and I feel really honored to be a voice from the U.K. that people are taking to.”

This story appears in the April 19, 2025, issue of Billboard.