Michael Kiwanuka’s new album was influenced by his anxiety over the world’s biggest problems.
The 37-year-old singer has just released his fourth studio album ‘Small Changes’, he admitted he has been gripped by fears over everything from Covid to climate change, the cost-of-living crisis and global wars.
He told NME when asked what makes him anxious: “Wow. A lot! Climate change: by the end of 2024, it will be the hottest year we’ve ever had.
“Wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The cost of living (crisis.)
“There are so many scary things. Even in music and creativity, people say it’s not worth anything anymore and there’s no money in it. Then there’s the (US) election!
“Everything seems to be on a knife edge. Playing music is a way not to have to think about heavy, heavy things all the time.
“Sometimes it can actually give you the strength to deal with some difficult things.”
Michael previously said the opening track from his new album ‘Floating Parade’ was about battling his anxiety.
He added about how he has also fought “confidence issues”: “Yeah. Huge. It was a long process, that, but in a massive way it culminated in the Mercury win. “You never make music for an accolade, but I couldn’t believe that would happen.”
He went on about fighting to get to the bottom of his songs: “It’s so hard to hear your music in that same way (as other people) because you’re always trying to fix it.
“You’re like: ‘I wouldn’t do that now.’”
Referring to his Mercury prize win in 2019 for his ‘Kiwanuka’ album, he added: “I was like, ‘Oh, wow, you can make stuff that you love and it can really touch people.’
“That blew me away. It re-centred me to focus more on intuition and natural expression without fear of not being good enough.
“After Covid, I was playing out in the US and rooms were full. I was thinking, ‘Wow – people are really connecting with this. I’ve gotta enjoy this ’cause it’s amazing. That’s enough of that now. Let’s just live.’
“I guess that imposter syndrome is deep-rooted, so you just always think it’s someone else.
“Even with this album: you’re pleased with it, you’re finished and you can’t wait for people to hear it, but I don’t expect people to automatically enjoy what I’m doing.”