Stormzy announces release date for third studio album This Is What I Mean
By Naomi Clarke, PA Entertainment Reporter
Stormzy has announced his highly anticipated third studio album, This Is What I Mean, will be released next month.
The 12-track offering is set for release on November 25th, three years after his 2019 album Heavy Is The Head.
This comes after the grime star, 29, released the hit single Mel Made Me Do It last month – with an accompanying 10-minute, cameo-packed music video featuring Louis Theroux, Usain Bolt and Jose Mourinho.
The album announcement also saw the Croydon-born rapper return to social media after a nearly three-year hiatus as he unveiled the artwork for the new record on Instagram.
It features a letter lying on a doormat at the base of a black front door with the album’s name emblazoned across it.
The post also announced the album’s tracklist with the opening number titled Fire + Water and other songs include My Presidents Are Black, I Got My Smile Back and Holy Spirit.
Earlier this year on the first night of his much-delayed Heavy Is The Head UK tour, he announced the third album would be released this year.
During the show at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, a video was played giving an insight into the process of the forthcoming record.
The forthcoming album is said to breach between “modern treatise, soul and hip-hop” styles and will showcase “intensely personal and lyrical themes”.
Originally from south London, Stormzy rose to fame with his song Shut Up, which was released as a freestyle and posted on YouTube.
His 2017 debut album, Gang Signs And Prayer, was the first grime album to reach number one in the UK and was named album of the year at the 2018 Brit Awards.
It was followed two years later by Heavy Is The Head – another number one.
December 2020 saw him sign with influential hip hop record label Def Jam after leaving Atlantic Records, joining some of the biggest names in rap music, including Kanye West, Nas, Pusha T and Public Enemy.
This Is What I Mean will be released globally on November 25th and is available to pre-order now.
