Entertainment
Stormzy says his new album reflects ‘the man I am and man I’ve become’-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
This Is What I Mean is out on November 25.
This Is What I Mean is out later this month (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Stormzy says that his upcoming third studio album ‘unlocks whatever freedom I’ve been looking for, both as a man and as a creative’.
The UK grime star, who has recently been announced as part of the line-up for Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball, said the album, titled This Is What I Mean, was a ‘reflection of growth’ but that the process of making it had been ‘selfish’.
It comes three years after his last album, Heavy Is The Head, and follows the release of the hit single Mel Made Me Do It in September.
In a new interview ahead of the album’s release, the rapper discussed ‘real artistic freedom’, saying it was about ‘being totally true to yourself’.
‘It reflects the man I am and the man I’ve become, where I’m at in my life. It’s a reflection of growth,’ he explained. ‘It’s not an attempt at music so much, it’s more me trying to hold up a mirror to myself.’
The Vossi Bop chart-topper said he finds it ‘impossible to figure out what people want from me’, saying that it meant the process of making This Is What I Mean had been ‘very selfish’.
Stormzy called his new album ‘a reflection of growth’ (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images For Bauer Media)
He also added that real artistic freedom ‘is about not considering the audience’ but said he felt you had ‘to do that in a really pure way.’
‘It’s not about defying what everyone thinks about you; it’s about being totally true to yourself,’ he told i-D magazine.
‘I feel like this album unlocks whatever freedom I’ve been looking for, both as a man and as a creative.’
The grime star will appear in his own TV special (Picture: BBC/PA)
It comes ahead of a series of programmes, broadcast by the BBC, celebrating the rapper as a ‘cultural icon’.
Stormzy will sit down with DJ Trevor Nelson and perform live at Abbey Road Studios for A Stormzy Special, set to air on BBC One on Tuesday November 15.
The 45-minute TV special will see the 29-year-old, real name Michael Omari, candidly chat about making his third album, his rise to fame and growth both personally and professionally, the BBC said.
His in-depth interview with Louis Theroux made compelling viewing (Picture: BBC/Mindhouse)
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He also featured in a new, recently aired interview with Louis Theroux, in which he admitted having become ‘depressed and withdrawn’ while making his debut album, Gang Signs and Prayers.
This Is What I Mean is due for release on November 25.
The full interview with Stormzy can be found online and in i-D magazine’s The Royalty Issue, number 370, Winter 2022.
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