slowthai returns with details of his third studio album UGLY, set to release on March 3rd via Method Records/Interscope Records.
Produced by Dan Carey at his home studio in South London and alongside frequent collaborator Kwes Darko, UGLY is a fluid combination of musicians including Ethan P. Flynn, Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye, Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, drummer Liam Toon, and on the dark and woozy title track, his friends Fontaines D.C.
The title of the album is an acronym for U Gotta Love Yourself. Musically, the project shows a side of him that people haven’t heard before but he views it as the fullest picture yet – which listeners will be familiar with on either his Mercury-nominated 2019 debut Nothing Great About Britain with the punk-rock gallop of ‘Doorman’ or a collaboration with rock band Slaves (now renamed Soft Play) on the track ‘Missing’.
Speaking on the new project, slowthai states: “The first album was the sound of where I’m from and everything I thought I knew,” he says. “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.”
Check out the visuals for “Selfish” below and pre-order UGLY here.
