Album Review: hopefully ! by Loyle Carner

Like so many young fathers, Loyle Carner's life has been changed by having kids - and his music has changed with it. hopefully ! brings a new soft rock backing to the rapper's reflective bars, all acoustic guitars and spaced-out drums. It's a far looser and more melodic sound, a gradual softening as he begins to see the world through the eyes of his young children.

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Carner has never shied away from his sensitive side; tracks on his debut project Yesterday's Gone (2017) featured musings on the sister he never had, his love for his mother and his disdain for lustful relationships. On hugo, Carner rejected his softhearted persona to unleash his righteous angst at the world, how it perceives him and his mixed-race identity, and how his newborn son is positioned in that world. Almost three years later, hopefully ! builds on hugo by taking an inward-facing look at Carner's life and family and the ways they have changed - or stayed the same - since the record that came before.

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Full of love, fatherhood and feeling, the Croydon lyricist’s fourth is less a reinvention than a maturation Loyle Carner remains an anomaly in British music – a rapper who operates entirely outside the conventions of UK hip hop, sidestepping its more performative instincts in favour of something far more reflective. There are no brash boasts, no tales of hedonism, sex, or violence; instead, Carner deals in intimacy and introspection, drawing listeners into a world shaped by family, grief and identity. On his fourth album, the Croydon lyricist stretches his storytelling into new terrain.

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Three years on from 'Hugo', Loyle Carner returns with 'hopefully !' – a contemplative, decidedly indie collection that trades sonic innovation for stillness and emotional clarity. Gone are the booming beats and voice notes of previous records; in their place is a subdued, organic palette that wraps introspection in dreamy guitars, live drum breaks, and shoegaze-inspired haze. The album opens with 'feel at home,' a breakbeat-driven track that sets the tone: unhurried and deliberate.

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The opening words to this fourth album from Loyle Carner are "beautiful accidents", and it's a line that can serve as a metaphor for the record as a whole. Here, we find the artist - now 11 years in - expanding his musical range: there are splashes of jungle on 'feel at home' and 'corrocux', and he ventures into singing throughout, with 'lyin' and 'strangers' providing particularly poignant moments. If his previous records covered the burdens which have held him back in the past, 'hopefully !' is him soaking everything in and moving forward.

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