Allow Cynthia Erivo to reintroduce herself. But not as the powerhouse belter of Broadway or the dazzling screen siren, but as a woman laying her soul bare. On her sophomore album, I Forgive You, the Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winner, not to mention three-time Oscar nominee, shows listeners something far more intimate - her humanity.

Skipping through sounds and scenes that weave pop, R&B, Britpop, gospel, folk, even flashes of yodeling and ethereal wailing, Erivo’s new record is as emotionally fluid as it is unconcerned with staying in the same genre for too long. It’s less of an album and more of a simmering confession, with each track unraveling a piece of herself, each moment boiling hotter, asking only that we meet her where she is… in the open, in the raw, in the real.

“This is all just part of the human experience,” Erivo says. And that’s exactly what I Forgive You feels like, a lived-in, scarred, and softly momentous journey through heartbreak, grace, and self-reclamation. But don’t mistake vulnerability for fragility. Erivo's voice remains a thunderstorm wrapped in velvet. Whether she's soaring through gospel-inflected choruses or whispering folk-tinged ballads, her delivery carries the weight of someone who’s seen enough of the world to know the cost of healing, and the freedom it brings. It’s a voice forged on stages and screens, now fully at home in the confessional booth of the studio.

Erivo doesn’t just sing about forgiveness, she embodies it. “When you’re in the public eye, people forget that you are human,” she says. “They see you as an entity, but not actually flesh and bone.” With I Forgive You, Erivo reclaims that flesh and bone, turning it into a living, breathing work of art. The result is one of 2025’s most haunting yet warm, intricate yet instinctive albums. At its core, it’s a reminder that the most powerful thing an artist can do is simply show up as themselves. And Erivo does just that; without armor, without filter, and with grace that cuts deep.