The ten-minute movie directed by Gabriel Moses options parts of 5 songs from the newly launched file, together with “Damaged,” “Sideways,” and “Coronary heart on Hearth”
Boundaries are vital. Eradicate concern. Honor your fact and emotions. Emotion is power in movement. These affirmations are the guiding narrative of No Thank You, the fifth studio album from Little Simz. Within the newly launched accompanying 10-minute quick movie, directed by by Gabriel Moses, the British rapper makes use of 5 songs from the album to bolster the identical highly effective declarations.
All through the movie, Simz settles right into a lead function surrounded by different Black performers to not solely rejects reward supplied by way of exterior validation, but in addition reject the dangerous fantasy of the robust Black girls that as a rule erases the sympathy of human wrestle by discrediting feelings that don’t line up with the preconceived narrative prescribed to them.
“All people’s so obsessive about the CEO/She in all probability obtained probably the most troubles that she’ll by no means disclose/Dealin’ with the darkish by takin’ the white to the nostril,” she raps on “Damaged.” “Poker face in motion, continuin’ with the present/Scrutinised for freein’ the reality concerning the system/All she needed to do was uplift the ladies.” Whereas the track performs, the digicam flashes between rage-filled girls, one wielding a gun, one other bodily attempting to shake the anger from her physique, and one other grieving. Simz herself slamming her fists right into a pool of water.
On “X,” an all-Black choir builds a barrier round Simz as she raps about division inside communities. The gospel inflections of Cleo Sol’s supporting vocals shut out the section of the movie pushed by imagery of troopers, together with one using by way of a clearing of bushes on the again of a horse whereas their physique goes up in flames.
Simz solely partially runs by way of the opening verse for “Sideways,” however spreads her vigor throughout “Silhouette” and “Coronary heart on Hearth,” the place she pushes again in opposition to utilizing exterior perceptions to outline her sense of self. On the latter, she raps: “It was by no means about lookin’ for outcomes/Now each time you do one thing, you want an applause (My coronary heart’s on f–)/Please preserve your head on once you’re goin’ by way of the maze/’Trigger navigatin’ the celebrity is one thing you’re by no means educated for.”
Because the choir of voices returns for “Coronary heart on Hearth,” within the movie’s strongest scene, the digicam follows Simz, donning a white robe, to the entrance of a mirror. There, she sits stone-faced and receives the applause of a dozen white individuals. “Am I anxious or am I excited?” she had simply requested on the prior verse. “Am I calm or am I unbothered?”