Latest Release
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- 10 JUL 2024
- 1 Song
- Floating Parade - Single · 2024
- Cheat Codes · 2022
- Beautiful Life - Single · 2021
- Beautiful Life - Single · 2021
- Beautiful Life - Single · 2021
- Small Axe (Music Inspired By The Original TV Series) · 2021
- Rōnin I · 2021
- Solid Ground (Virgil Abloh Remix) - Single · 2020
- Final Days (Bonobo Remix) - Single · 2020
- Untitled (Black Is) · 2020
Albums
- 2024
- 2024
- 2022
Artist Playlists
- The UK singer/songwriter's vintage-tinted soul will leave you wistful.
Live Albums
More To Hear
- Elton John sits down with Michael Kiwanuka for a special episode.
- A deep dive into the Bristol band's third album Ultra Mono.
- Matt and guests talk about their essential winter songs.
- The singer picks the 5 Best songs on Apple Music.
- The musician picks the 5 Best Songs on Apple Music.
- The singer and producer talks his self-titled album, Kiwanuka.
- London singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka details his third album.
About Michael Kiwanuka
It took a while for Michael Kiwanuka to feel at ease with himself. The warm blend of folk and soul on his 2012 debut, Home Again, earned the singer-songwriter a Mercury Prize nomination and an invitation to be part of Kanye West’s Yeezus sessions in Hawaii. Kiwanuka accepted, but after a few days he slipped away, suffering from impostor syndrome. “I’ve always felt like you are these shoes that you half-fill, or someone’s going to come in and say, ‘Right, your time’s up. We found you out,’” he told Apple Music. “It’s frustrating, but sometimes it’s good because it keeps you on your toes.” That gives context to lines such as “I’ve been ashamed/All my life” from 2017’s “Cold Little Heart”, which broke the Londoner in the US when it became the theme to TV hit Big Little Lies. By then, contemplating ideas of self and belonging was nothing new to him. The son of Ugandan immigrants, Kiwanuka was born in May 1987 and raised in Muswell Hill, North London, where there was only one other African family in the neighbourhood. As a teenage skater with a love of folk and punk, he found himself outside the prevailing trends for indie rock and grime. Nevertheless, he fed his musical curiosity by starting degrees in jazz guitar and popular music before his online demos prompted calls from labels. In 2016, his second album, Love & Hate—also Mercury-nominated—embraced strings, psychedelia and funk while he dug further into his sense of self, particularly on lead single “Black Man in a White World”. A demo of that track had persuaded Danger Mouse to join UK beatsmith Inflo behind the boards for the album, and the trio reunited for 2019’s KIWANUKA. Bolder, grander and charged with emotional punch, this one actually won the Mercury Prize. Opening with self-acceptance anthem “You Ain’t the Problem”, the free-spirited set presented a man who was finally comfortable in those half-filled shoes. “[The title] is almost a statement to myself,” he said. “I want to be able to say, ‘This is me, rain or shine.’ People might like it, people might not. It’s OK—at least people know who I am.”
- HOMETOWN
- Muswell Hill, London, England
- BORN
- 3 May 1987
- GENRE
- R&B/Soul