Little Simz has picked up another prestigious award, winning the coveted 2022 Mercury prize for her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.
The North London rapper earned the win on her second nomination; she first received the nod for her third album, Grey Area, in 2019. Simz also performed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of her song “How Did I Get Here” during the ceremony. Watch it below and stream the album at the end of the page.
Little Simz Celebrates Winning The Mercury prize
Little Simz was initially speechless, accepting the award at London’s Eventim Apollo on Tuesday night (Oct. 18) as the crowd congratulated her with a standing ovation.
“Wow. I’m very very overwhelmed, I’m very grateful,” she said. “Glory to God – God thank you so much; to my family over here, my loved ones right here. I wanna say a huge thank you to Mercury for this incredible, incredible prize. I wanna say a thank you to my brother and close collaborator [producer] Inflo – Flo [has] known me since I was so young, he’s stuck by me, we created this album together. There was times in the studio I didn’t know if I was gonna finish this record, I was going through all the emotions … he stuck by me.”
She also paid tribute to her fellow nominees. “All of you guys are incredible, we all made incredible albums, we all change people’s lives with our music and that’s the most important thing, so this is for us really, you know what I’m saying?”
The award comes with a £25,000 prize ($28,350 approx.), given to the year’s best British or Irish album.
“The album that we have chosen deals with themes both personal and political; the music is as sophisticated as it is varied,” said DJ Jamz Supernova presenting Little Simz with the prize. “This is a truly exceptional album.”
Meanwhile on Tuesday evening, Little Simz took a walk down memory lane. She shared a throwback clip dating back to when she was just eight years old, rapping for BBC Radio 1Xtra.
An 11-year-old @LittleSimz on the mic for @1Xtra
— DMY (@dmymag) October 18, 2022pic.twitter.com/vehJXCpMrr
