Stormzy’s third album is the first one without his face on the front. The cover image is of a letter on a doormat, as though UK rap’s biggest star has sent a message but isn’t there in person. And that’s how it often feels on what is by far Michael Omari’s most downbeat, intimate collection: he’s stepping aside to allow others to shine, barely noticeable on songs such as Sampha’s Plea and Give It to the Water, where the singing voices of his fellow south Londoners Sampha and Debbie are the main attraction.
The change in tone is a product of lockdown, an enforced pause and recalibration that he needed badly after a rocket-powered ascent that took him from his first top 10 single to a Glastonbury headlining slot in little more than two years. After all that, there’s little need for the thrusting, status-asserting raps that have been so much fun to hear in the past.
