''Grey Area'' (stylised as ''GREY Area'') is the third studio album by English rapper
Little Simz
Simbiatu "Simbi" Abisola Abiola Ajikawo (born 23 February 1994), better known by her stage name Little Simz, is a British rapper, singer and actress. She rose to prominence with the independent release of her first three albums; ''A Curious Tale ...
, released on 1 March 2019 through
Age 101 Music and
AWAL
AWAL (an initialism of Artists Without a Label) is a British music distribution company owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The company serves as an alternative to the traditional music label deal, offering deal structures to artists and independ ...
.
Release
"Offence" was released as a single on 17 September 2018. "Boss" was released as a single on 23 September 2018. "101 FM" was released as a single on 4 December 2018. "Selfish" was released on 16 January 2019 along with the announcement of ''Grey Area''.
Critical reception
At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 91, based on 15 reviews.
In the review for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
, Liam Martin praised the album by claiming that "On her third full-length album, Grey Area, Simz has reached a new peak, with an honest record that isn't afraid to take shots at the world at large. It's also incredibly concise -- an aspect that many of her peers often miss the mark on -- with no filler despite the broad variation the record boasts."
Kyann-Sian Williams of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' praised the album, giving it a perfect score and saying, "Across these 10 tracks, Simz utilises her most valuable commodity: honesty. Having stripped away the narrative cloak that shrouded the highlights of 'Stillness In Wonderland', she's crafted a knockout record – and finally come true on her early promise. This is the best rap record of the year so far."
William Rosebury of ''
The Line of Best Fit
''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music.
It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...
'' said, "It's brave but vulnerable, energetic but reflective and youthful but wise. If you listen to any Little Simz track, you'll know instantly she's a great MC, but with this project she has stepped beyond that to become a uniquely gifted artist. An incredible album."
Track listing
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Little Simz albums
Age 101 Music albums
AWAL albums
Albums produced by Inflo