13. Jorja Smith
I picked Jorja because she’s from Walsall in the West Midlands. The West Midlands gets nothing but grief and negativity – our accent is always voted the worst accent in Britain. People make jokes about Wolverhampton all the time, Birmingham is still renowned as an incredible shithole and the racial diversity of the West Midlands is also regularly mocked. You know, all these stories about Birmingham being a no–go area? And it’s just not true. It’s actually an incredibly, racially harmonious place, I would say it’s got an incredible warmth to it. People are incredibly funny and warm. And there’s loads of music which has come out there which reflects the racial diversity. We’ve got the modern version of that in Jorja Smith. Her music is such a mix of influences: you’ve got jazz in there, you can definitely detect the influence of Amy Winehouse, plus there’s reggae, hip–hop, R&B. She’s got a super natural voice. People like Jorja Smith are hugely popular, but the average person might not even know her. The music scene is so different nowadays to the 80s and 90s when there was generally one kind of Top Of The Pops, Smash Hits success. Things are much more interesting. I hate it when people my age say "music used to be better". I think there’s actually more talent and it’s more easily accessible than ever before. Music is the best it’s ever been and Jorja Smith proves it.
