Little Simz’s music burrows deep into her most critical, self-analyzing thoughts. On last year’s Drop 6 EP and 2019’s GREY Area, warm live instrumentation magnified the UK rapper’s dexterous, breakneck flow as she broke down themes of burnout, trauma, and anxiety in her twenties. Now Simz returns with “Introvert,” a breathless recollection of the past year and a resolute call to break free of societal limitations. Driven by lush, cinematic fanfare and a pounding drumline, “Introvert” focuses on Simz as she comes to grips with a wave of revelations about her identity and the world during a time of crisis and political awakening.

Through her engaging observations, Simz turns “Introvert” into an elaborate portrait of inner turmoil. Examining the fine line between “Simz the artist or Simbi the person,” she realizes she bottles up all of her most fretful emotions and can only exorcise them through her music. “One day I’m wordless, next day I’m a wordsmith/Close to success but to happiness I’m the furthest,” she raps, tumbling words out in stark admission of vulnerability. Produced by longtime collaborator and childhood friend Inflo, “Introvert” is detailed with flutes, strings, and choral vocals that bear out Simz’s tales, which eventually pan from her own conflicts toward scenes of governmental corruption and poverty. “Look beyond the surface/Don’t just see what you want to see,” Simz instructs in the song’s most edifying moment. “I’m a Black woman and I’m a proud one/We walk in blind faith not knowing the outcome/But as long as we unified then we’ve already won.” She repeats that final word as though bellowing through a megaphone, lifting it up into a triumphant and unequivocal rallying cry.