slowthai announces third album ‘UGLY’ and releases first single

slowthai has announced details of his third studio album, and unveiled the first single – you can hear it here.

He will release UGLY on March 3, via Method Records. Today (January 25), he dropped the first taste of the record in the form of ‘Selfish’, a brooding exercise in introspection that offers a sense of the direction that the follow-up to Nothing Great About Britain and Tyron will take.

The Northampton rapper, real name Tyron Frampton, is spending today inside a custom-built room fitted floor-to-ceiling with two-way mirrors, in another possible hint at the reflective nature of UGLY. He is live streaming the exercise, and you can check in on him below. Produced by Dan Carey, best known for his work with rock outfits like Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg and Black Midi, at his home studio in South London, UGLY is described in a press release as “a striking departure” that takes influence from Nirvana, Daniel Johnston and Radiohead.

“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,” Frampton says. “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?”

Frampton’s decision to turn his lyrical incisiveness back on himself was inspired by having entered therapy during the writing sessions for UGLY, which helped him reconnect with pre-fame levels of contentment. “I didn’t have a care in the world when I was rolling around with my friends in a 306 and falling in love,” he explains. “Now I have to think twice about what I say, but why? The fear of not being liked? Who gives a fuck? I wish I’d come to the epiphany quicker. It took me 10 years to get back to where I was originally and learn that everything I believed along the way didn’t mean fuck all.” 

“The first album was the sound of where I’m from and everything I thought I knew,” he continues. “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.”

slowthai – UGLY:

‘Yum’
‘Selfish’
‘Sooner’‘
Feel Good’
‘Never Again’
‘Fuck It Puppet’
‘HAPPY’
‘UGLY’
‘Falling’
‘Wotz Funny’
‘Tourniquet’
’25% Club’