“It’s a bigger operation,” Stormzy claims on the chest-pumping title track to his third studio album, This Is What I Mean. While the line primarily functions as a reference to the U.K. rapper’s growing ubiquity as an international star, it also incidentally works as a broad description of the album itself, as This Is What I Mean is a much more stylistically ambitious and communal undertaking than 2019’s supercharged Heavy Is the Head.
When describing the recording process for This Is What I Mean, which was mostly written during a secluded getaway to Osea Island in Essex, Stromzy remarked how “When you hear about music camps, they always sound intense…but this felt beautifully free.” True to his word, the album finds him in a relaxed headspace. Aside from the title track, This Is What I Mean is a decidedly low-tempo, unhurried affair with few bangers in sight. If anything, it sounds more akin to the stylings of Sam Smith than it does Skepta.
Much of the album is marked by a deeply somber mood. “Firebabe” and the eight-minute “Fire + Water” each possess rich instrumental palettes—an assortment of electric and acoustic guitars, cellos, basses, flutes, and alto saxophones—but lack dynamism or a sense of urgency. In particular, the former track, a syrupy lullaby that peddles in lyrics like “Her eyes took away my breath/And that’s when I knew she was mine until the end,” is painfully lifeless.
This Is What I Mean seeks to position Stormzy as several things at once: an eclectic artist unafraid to share the spotlight with an assorted cast of critically celebrated collaborators, a tender soul who’s tormented by a recent heartbreak, and a cheerful figurehead for Black British youth on platitude-filled anthems such as “My Presidents Are Black.”
But far too often, Stormzy sounds crushed under the weight of his own unrelenting seriousness. On “Please,” when he pleads with his adoring fans to “pause the applause” because it’s stopping him from “being flawed,” he seems to sincerely believe it’s an act of humility. Like the rest of This Is What I Mean, the lyric amounts to little more than an empty gesture.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
First and Most relevant Is Mr, Attard British, Is Stormzy To Stagnate, The Innovative Project Shows An Illumination of Maturity Many Olders Have Been Wanting To Hear, Onward and Upward Stormzy, These Sanctioned Critics Have Their Narrative Scripted To Them I Highly Doubt Mr, Attard Gave The Offerering A Second Hearing! Mr, Attard Sir Your Preferred Genre?