Jorja Smith reveals her Wizkid hit “Alive” was originally his song with P2J before she made it her own, and opens up on AI faking her voice.
So here’s a fun one for the Afrobeats-meets-UK-soul fans. You know “Alive,” that smooth Jorja Smith and Wizkid record that’s been living rent-free in a lot of playlists? Turns out it wasn’t even supposed to be a duet in the first place.
Jorja just spilled the tea in an interview with JAM FM Berlin, and honestly, it’s the kind of behind-the-scenes gist that makes you appreciate a song even more.
Here’s the twist: “Alive” already existed before she ever touched it. Wizkid and producer P2J had cooked it up together, no Jorja involved yet.
“P2J had that song with Wiz already, and then I heard it,” she explained. So basically, she walked into a finished vibe and had to find her own way into it. And she did, using Wizkid’s existing verse as her guide for where her own part should go.
What’s the song even about? Love, obviously. That early, giddy stage of it. Jorja described it as capturing that specific feeling of driving to see someone new.
“It was just reminding me of driving down to meet someone. There’s like a driving force in the song, a pull,” she said. Makes sense why the video was shot in Paris too, nothing says romantic pull like Parisian streets in the background.
Now, if you’re wondering why a UK-born producer keeps popping up next to Wizkid’s name, that’s P2J (real name Richard Isong) for you, Nigerian-British, and one of the most trusted names behind Wizkid’s sound for almost ten years. He’s the guy behind most of Made in Lagos, including “Essence” with Tems, plus key cuts on More Love, Less Ego and Morayo. So really, a P2J-Wizkid session already having magic in it before anyone else joins? Not surprising at all.
Jorja also touched on something a lot heavier while she was at it, AI-generated music being passed off as hers. She said even her own family got fooled by fake tracks online at some point, which is honestly kind of unsettling when you think about it.
“AI is kind of a scary grey area. Where is this going?” she said, adding that her team now actively monitors and flags fake content whenever it pops up.
So there you have it, a hit song born by accident, and an artist quietly fighting a very modern battle to protect her own voice.
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