Michael Kiwanuka has confirmed details of his third album, Kiwanuka.
Released on October 25 via Polydor, it is the follow-up to 2016 No.1 album Love & Hate. The sophomore LP secured the singer-songwriter Mercury and BRIT nominations. It is certified gold and has sales to date of 115,200, according to the Official Charts Company.
Recorded in New York, LA and London, Kiwanuka reunited with Love & Hate’s production team, Danger Mouse and Inflo.
The single You Ain’t The Problem aired tonight (August 13) as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record with Jack Saunders (covering for Annie Mac).
Kiwanuka said: "The last album came from an introspective place and felt like therapy, I guess. This one is more about feeling comfortable in who I am and asking what I want to say. Like, how could I be bold and challenge myself and the listener? It is about self-acceptance in a more triumphant rather than melancholy way. It’s an album that explores what it means to be a human being today.”
He added: “When I first signed a record deal, people would ask me, ‘So what are you going to be called?’. And I never thought of that; calling myself Johnny Thunders or whatever, like singers from the past. So, on this album it’s kind of a defiant thing; I’m engaging with who I am and I’m not going to have an alter ego, or become Sasha Fierce or Ziggy Stardust, even though everyone's telling me I need to be this, that or the other. I can just be Michael Kiwanuka.”
Kiwanuka collaborated with Tom Misch on the single Money in June.
Following a headline performance at this year’s End of the Road Festival in September, Kiwanuka heads out on the road. Today the first UK shows were announced for March 2020, including a date at O2 Academy Brixton.
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