Michael Kiwanuka has told Music Week how his Mercury Prize win helped lay the groundwork for his upcoming new album, Small Changes.
The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter took the 2020 prize for his third LP Kiwanuka (154,899 sales, Official Charts Company), awarded live on BBC One’s The One Show in lockdown, at the height of the pandemic.
And the guitarist, who performed on the Pyramid Stage at this year's Glastonbury, has only positive things to say about its impact on his career.
“It just took the music to more people than ever,” said Kiwanuka, who graces the cover of our October issue. “I feel like the Mercury always attracts huge music fans, people that will buy 15-20 albums a year. But because of lockdown, everyone was watching TV and people that were buying maybe one album a year discovered what the Mercury was, and luckily I won it.
"I played much bigger venues, I started to meet artists that I looked up to for a long time, like Mustafa The Poet and Daniel Caesar. It was probably the biggest moment of my career.”
Each of Kiwanuka's three long-players so far - 2012’s Home Again (181,259 sales), 2016 No.1 Love & Hate (181,256) and Kiwanuka (2019) - have been certified gold by the BPI. And the 37-year-old, who boasts 5.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, does not seek to shy away from his enhanced profile.
What’s happened up to now has given me even more impetus to do what I do and go for it
Michael Kiwanuka
“Not every artist, especially those who make music that I do, would admit that they want a certain level of commercial success,” he reflected. “But deep down, you want everyone to connect and hear your art and your message.
"If it got to a point where Small Changes was heard by as many people as would listen to Noah Kahan, for example, then yeah, I’ll take that any day. I wouldn’t change or compromise for it, but I wouldn’t shun it.
“What’s happened up to now has given me even more impetus to do what I do and go for it. If I miss, I don’t lose anything. But there’s no harm in shooting for the stars if you’re putting out what you believe in.”
Small Changes arrives via Polydor on November 15 - almost exactly five years after its acclaimed predecessor. Kiwanuka has welcomed two children into the world in the interim, a development that helped guide his latest body of work.
“You start to rely on your instincts more, which is good,” he opined. “You rely on your subconscious more, because you know it’s in there. You just need to be strong enough to let it out and trust it. And then you have to trust your process and your craft to complete the idea. The more you do that, the more direct and prolific I think you can become, especially because you have less time.”
He continued: “[Small Changes] is more of an intimate record than the last two, and I don’t know if I’d have had the confidence to do something like this before,” said Kiwanuka. “I just wanted people to hear my melodies, my voice and my words, more so than just how impressive the music ideas are.
"My songs are always self-help messages, but I’m focusing on acceptance. Where Kiwanuka was about self-acceptance, this one’s more like committing to what the situation is and who you are. Once you’ve accepted who you are, you can commit to it. So that means even when it feels tough, you don’t change like the wind.
“When there’s a humility to [how you make music], you’re serving the craft and the artform and you’re making something that hopefully becomes larger than the sum of its parts. That’s when you know you’ve done something amazing. Any artist will tell you they’ve thought they’ve made something good when it feels like it’s above and beyond them.”
I’ve grown to really love and trust that the music can come and will come if you are open. It’s completely changed my view on what being an artist is
Michael Kiwanuka
The recording sessions saw Kiwanuka reunite with his trusted production team of Inflo (Adele, Sault, Little Simz) and Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, Red Hot Chili Peppers). As his career has progressed, he has learned to appreciate the benefits of creating from scratch.
“With Inflo and Danger Mouse, we just turn up to the studio and start, the attitude being, ‘Let’s just play and see what happens,’” he said. “I didn’t trust that initially. I was like, ‘How are you going to come up with a song that’s from my mind, from my heart by just turning up with nothing?
“I’ve grown to really love and trust that the music can come and will come if you are open. It’s completely changed my view on what being an artist is. I thought it’s all about how good you are, but it’s more how curious you are, and the ones that are the most curious are the most interesting, because they’re happy to go into the unknown. They’re comfortable in the unknown, on the edges, where they don’t know what’s going on, and that’s where the magic really appears."
Kiwanuka, who is managed by Robert Swerdlow of Starwood Management - which recently formed a partnership with Red Light UK - is nothing but complimentary about the efforts of his backroom team.
“Polydor has just allowed me to create and work, however long it takes,” he said. “There’s not been one ounce of pressure, which you don’t really hear much, that’s not often the story. With Rob, he’s a manager who listens and provides space but also challenges me, and both are equally important.
"There have been times where it’s annoyed me a lot, but sometimes they can hear how far you can go better than you can. You want to have people that are willing to push you to your heights. The answer isn’t always ‘yes’, sometimes it has to be ‘no’. Rob is really good at pivoting between the two.”
Subscribers can read the full cover story, which also features interviews with Polydor president Ben Mortimer and manager Robert Swerdlow, here.
