Jorja Smith Releases Third Album 'What Are The Odds' Her Most Dance-Driven Work

Jorja Smith performing at the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Photo: Vbrunophotog, Wikimedia Commons

Jorja Smith has long occupied a space of her own in British music: too R&B for pop radio, too pop for the underground, and too good to be ignored by either. On What Are The Odds, released today via FAMM, the Walsall-born singer steps decisively toward the dancefloor. It is her most sonically cohesive record to date, an album that channels emotional processing through movement, and it arrives as one of the more confident statements of her career.

P2J and the Dance Record They Always Wanted to Make

The album marks Smith's first new studio record since 2023's Falling or Flying, and reunites her with producer P2J, whose fingerprints are all over her recent output. According to a press release, the two began discussing a dance album shortly after completing their 2023 hit "Little Things," and the conversations eventually crystallized into three focused recording sessions. The result is a 12-track record that spans afro-house, UK garage, funky house and R&B without ever losing its center of gravity.

For Smith, the transition is less of a departure than an evolution. She has always carried dance music in her DNA: "On My Mind" tapped into two-step, "Little Things" was built for clubs. What Are The Odds takes that instinct and builds an entire world around it. The production is immaculate throughout, layering rhythm and texture in ways that feel current without chasing trends.

Wizkid, Devlin and the Tracks That Define the Record

The album carries only two featured artists. Wizkid appears on "Alive," the record's lead single, which pairs P2J's afrobeats signature with Smith's effortless melodic phrasing. The track arrived alongside a video set in Paris, following Smith and friends through a warm summer night, and it set the tone well for what the album delivers as a whole. Grime veteran Devlin joins on "This City," a reimagining of his 2010 track "London City" that bridges two generations of British street music.

Elsewhere, the album breathes. "What's Done Is Done" is confrontational and cool, Smith flirting with rapping over smoky hip-hop and garage. "I Lied, You Lied" is flirtatious and mysterious, built on jazz and afro-house. "Young Heart" explores her own youthful relationship with love with a lightness that never tips into naivety. There is an openness to the record that feels earned, the work of an artist who has spent years learning to trust her instincts.

Jorja Smith performing at The Opera House in Toronto, May 2018. Photo: The Come Up Show, Wikimedia Commons

Jorja Smith: What Are The Odds and What Comes Next

Jorja Smith's year has already been busy before the album even dropped. She contributed an original song to the soundtrack for Riz Ahmed's Prime Video series Bait, appeared on the inaugural season of Saturday Night Live UK, and celebrated the 10th anniversary of her breakthrough single "Blue Lights." Today, album release day, she will co-headline London's All Points East festival alongside Tems, making for one of the more charged live moments of the British summer season.

What Are The Odds is out now via FAMM on all streaming platforms, with CD and vinyl editions also available. After a decade in the public eye, Jorja Smith sounds like someone who has found exactly the kind of record she wanted to make.

#JorjaSmith #RnB #WhatAreTheOdds