Little Simz is a rapper from England who put out her first album in 2015. She’s won the Mercury Prize, a Brit Award, and three MOBO awards. She also starred in the Netflix series Top Boy. Her most recent album is called Lotus. It came out in June 2025, and it followed a pretty tumultuous time in her career. For this episode, I got to talk to Little Simz about one of the songs from that album, called “Free,” along with Miles Clinton James, who produced the track.

You can buy or stream “Free” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Alex Bonfanti – co-writer and bass player
Rosie Danvers – string arranger
Conversations With God
All About Love
The Kinks
Jackson Five
RAK studios

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Anohni is a singer and songwriter originally from England, who started putting out music in 2000. She’s released 6 albums, and won the Mercury Prize. She’s also been nominated for two Brit Awards, and an Oscar. For this episode, I talked to her about the song “4 Degrees,” from her 2016 album, Hopelessness. It might be strange to describe a song about climate change as an anthem, but that’s what I think it is, and it feels more urgent with every passing year. It’s also one of my most listened-to songs. It was produced by two of my favorite electronic musicians: Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, and Ross Birchard, aka Hudson Mohawke. I got to speak to Ross about how he started the track on his own, before it became a collaboration between the three of them. This is an episode that I’ve been trying to make happen since 2016. Here it is.

You can buy or stream “4 Degrees” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
“Hope There’s Someone”
“Indian Steps”
Synplant
The impact of 4°C global warming
Oneohtrix Point Never on Song Exploder

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