slowthai announces new album Ugly and shares abrasive new single Selfish

slowthai has today announced details of forthcoming album Ugly and released abrasive new single Selfish.

The LP, due out in March, has been described as a striking departure for slowthai and a return to the roots of Tyron Kaymone Frampton.

Ugly will see the Northants musician make a sonic shift into alternative and rock genres with as much singing as rapping – a transition evident on new single Selfish.

slowthai said: “The first album was the sound of where I’m from and everything I thought I knew.

“The second album is what was relevant to me at that moment in time, the present.

“And this album is completely me — about how I feel and what I want to be… it’s everything I’ve been leading up to.”

Pulling himself apart and exposing his anxieties of the last couple of years has been key to this next phase of slowthai.

The Ugly album cover is up close and personal, with the camera zooming in tight on the left side of his face.

The title of the LP - an acronym for U Gotta Love Yourself - is tattooed beneath his eye.

slowthai said: “It doesn’t matter what or who people think you are, you’ve just got to stay true and respect yourself.

“I have Ugly tattooed on my face because it’s a reminder to love myself, rather than put myself down constantly or feel the impression people have of me should determine who I am as a person.”

“At the end of the day, the art I make is for myself and the music I make is for myself.

“If I enjoy it then who gives a f**k. So, the way I should live my life should be without any expectations of anyone else.

“I think it's something that we all need to hear because everyone needs a smile and everyone needs a bit of joy and you need to look in yourself to really feel it because no one else can give you the real feeling.”

Musically, this new album may show a side of him that people haven’t heard before, but he sees it as the fullest picture yet - and attentive listeners will have noticed this musical tendency before, on either his Mercury-nominated 2019 debut Nothing Great About Britain with the punk-rock gallop of Doorman or a collaboration with rock band Slaves (now renamed Soft Play) on the track Missing.

During radio sessions for his number-one follow-up album, Tyron, slowthai covered The Verve and Elliott Smith.

On Ugly, he rediscovers what he fears he was losing. His 2019 debut Nothing Great About Britain was irresistible for its riotous enthusiasm and maverick authenticity but success began to eat away at both qualities.

Naturally funny and honest, he worried that what began as raw self-expression was congealing into a persona — a cartoon version of himself.

He said: “People see you as a character. They don’t actually know who you are. You’re stereotyped as the nutter who gets in his boxers.

“I was doing that to show that you should be free at shows and enjoy yourself but you choose to see me as an idiot.”

When he was a teenager in Northampton he loved emotionally intense rock music, notably the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead and Daniel Johnston and wanted to join a band - but that’s hard when you don’t play an instrument and feel self-conscious about singing in public.

slowthai adds: “This album was me trying to emulate the spirit of the brotherhood ethos that bands have.

“Music is about the feeling and emotion that goes into it. Like an artist making a painting, it's the expression of that moment in time.

“I really felt like I didn’t want to rap, whereas before, rap was the only way I could express myself with the tools I had.

“Now that I have more freedom to create and do more, why wouldn’t we change it up?”

Ugly was recorded by producer Dan Carey in his home studio alongside frequent collaborator Kwes Darko.

It also features acts including Ethan P. Flynn, Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye, Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, drummer Liam Toon and Fontaines D.C.

It will feature the tracks Yum, Selfish, Sooner, Feel Good, Never Again, F**k It Puppet, HAPPY, UGLY, Falling, Wotz funny, Tourniquet and 25% Club.

While slowthai will inevitably head out on a UK tour at some stage this year to support his new record, he is also due to join Blur at Wembley stadium in July.

Today, slowthai’s YouTube page is live streaming the rapper in a room, fitted floor to ceiling with two-way mirrors.

He entered the room last night and will continue to spend time with himself throughout the day.

Ugly is available to pre-order now. For more information, visit https://www.slowthai.com