A year before I had broken up with an ex-girlfriend and my responsibility for that was still weighing heavy on me. It felt like I had blood on my hands from devastating the world that we had created for ourselves and the feeling became unbearable. Then, one evening, by the ocean, I sat and wrote out a long message. A message of accountability, not redemption. Seeking redemption at that point would have been both audacious and selfish but it felt like the beginning of the real healing process–a process that, even if I didn’t know it then, would come to reshape me both as a man and an artist.

This Is What I Mean (2022, Vinyl) - Discogs Stormzy – This Is What I Mean (2022, Vinyl) - Discogs

Stormzy reached out to me cold last year, saying he was a fan and that he wanted to make some music together. It was a crazy message to get but I sent him hundreds of vocal stems for a song idea and then we spent a fortnight in the manor house on Osea Island that he had hired with 20 of his favourite musicians and producers. We would play football and eat, and the music was a byproduct of the hang. I’ve never heard music like this from anybody. The record feels like the island, it’s so full of love. CONCEPT: JERMAINE AGYAKO | PHOTOGRAPHY: HENRY JAY KAMARA | CREATIVE DIRECTION: PHIL LEE @ UNTOLD STUDIOS | DESIGN: YASMINA AOUN @UNTOLD STUDIOS Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. When you hear about music camps, they always sound intense and somber. 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 byproduct 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. Stormzy has announced his long-awaited third album This Is What I Mean, set for release on November 25.This Is What I Mean is South London MC Stormzy’s third studio album, coming after his commercially acclaimed 2019 Heavy Is The Head. Primarily written during a music retreat at Osea Island in Essex, This Is What I Mean will be Stormzy’s first release on Def Jam Recordings.

This Is What I Mean - Limited Edition Clear 2LP | Vinyl 12 This Is What I Mean - Limited Edition Clear 2LP | Vinyl 12

These technologies are used for things like personalised ads, to limit how many times you see an ad, to understand usage via Google Analytics, to understand how you got to our web properties, to ensure that we understand the audience and can provide relevant adsSelected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. This album wasn’t made for the “fans” or the “haters” or the “hip-hop heads” or the “R&B lovers”. We considered no one. The audience who’ll receive it were not catered to in any way, shape or form. The listener wasn’t thought of once. Quite frankly, it’s the most selfish thing I’ve ever made. Picasso never used a particular shade of blue because he thought people would like it, he used it because that blue was bubbling in his spirit and it had to hit the canvas.

Stormzy – This Is What I Mean (2022, Cream, Vinyl) - Discogs

Limited edition 2LP cream vinyl of Stormzy’s third studio album ‘This Is What I Mean’. Includes signed art card. We’re all musicians, but we weren’t always doing music. Some days we played football or walked around taking pictures. And the byproduct to that was very beautiful music,” says Stormzy, describing the retreat. “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”.