Jorja Smith performed a surprisingly intimate set for Radio 1’s Big Weekend on Friday (May 28), including a Shaybo team-up for ‘Bussdown’.
Playing in a colourfully lit BBC Radio Theatre, Smith joined Shaybo – described as packing “sure-fire punchlines that have shown she’s capable of great things to come” in the NME 100 2021 list – as well as a host of musicians and back-up singers to deliver the performance.
Watch her performance of ‘Bussdown’ below:
Smith joined the likes of Wolf Alice, Ed Sheeran and Royal Blood on the Big Weekend 2021 bill, with each artist performing their set from a special location of their choosing.
The star-studded line-up also saw Coldplay playing in front of a lit-up Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire, the monastic ruins that formed the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
This year’s Big Weekend festival is taking place online for the second consecutive year due to coronavirus-enforced restrictions. It’s being broadcast across BBC Radio 1, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds from Friday (May 28) to Bank Holiday Monday (May 31).
In a three-star review of Smith’s latest album ‘Be Right Back’, released earlier this month (May 14), NME‘s Kyann-Sian Williams wrote: “As Jorja Smith takes her time to release a second album that lives up to the hype, the steadily sombre ‘Be Right Back’ is a perfect prelude to her next chapter.
“Experimenting with different vocal registers and taking advantage of how harmoniously her voice goes with live instruments, she’s shared a collection that should leave you itching for her next step. If these are loosies, it’s proof of how top-notch her craft is.”