Stormzy, the U.K. rapper who began in the grime underground and became a global hip-hop star, has announced his third studio album, This Is What I Mean. The project is due out November 25 via 0207 Def Jam/Interscope Records.
This Is What I Mean was written and recorded during the pandemic on Osea Island, off the coast of Essex. Stormzy invited a to-be-revealed roster of producers, musicians, and other collaborators for what turned out to be a fruitful and edifying series of music camps.
“When you hear about music camps they always sound intense and somber,” says Stormzy in a press statement. “People saying: ‘We need to make an album.’ ‘We need to make some hit records.’ But this felt beautifully free. We’re all musicians but we weren’t always doing music. Some days we played football or walked around taking pictures. And the bi-product to that was very beautiful music. Because when you marry that ethos with world-class musicians and the best producers, writers, and artists in the world, and we’re in one space, that’s a recipe for something that no one can really imagine. You can’t even calculate what that’s going to come up with. And it came up with a big chunk of this album.”
Below, find the cover art for This Is What I Mean and the tracklist. It does not contain “Mel Made Me Do It,” Stormzy’s comeback single released last week with a music video featuring cameos from Jose Mourinho, Dave, Headie One, Louis Theroux, and more.
This Is What I Mean album art
This Is What I Mean tracklist
1. Fire + Water
2. This Is What I Mean
3. FireBabe
4. Please
5. Need You
6. Hide & Seek
7. My Presidents Are Black
8. Sampha’s Plea
9. Holy Spirit
10. Bad Blood
11. I Got My Smile Back
12. Give It To The Water
