Future Utopia

British collaborative project Future Utopia operates under the direction of the prolific, chart-topping producer Fraser T. Smith, whose credits include Adele, Drake, and Sam Smith. Smith convenes all-star line-ups that blend rap and R&B with spoken word segments. The project's ambitious debut album, 2020's 12 Questions, addressed a range of societal issues and anxieties while allowing each contributor to introduce a distinct personal approach. For the 2023 EP We Were We Still Are, Smith gathered an entirely new roster of participants.

Stormzy, Bastille, Idris Elba, and Arlo Parks numbered among the wide array of artists featured on the first Future Utopia album. The record appeared as a self-release in October 2020, coinciding with Smith's establishment of his own imprint, 70Hz, whose initial signing was Mysie. In 2021 Smith received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song for the 12 Questions track "Children of the Internet," which paired him with Dave and Es Devlin.

Smith subsequently served as co-producer on Kasabian's 2022 album The Alchemist's Euphoria and performed as a member of their touring band before revisiting Future Utopia with the January 2023 single "We Were We Still Are." Several months afterward the matching EP arrived via 70Hz/The Orchard. The set included spoken word artist Kae Tempest alongside Tomi, Biig Piig, and Smith's own debut vocal performance.