Loyle Carner’s hopefully ! is his most heart-filled album yet, powerful in its purpose and a reminder that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let a little light in.
Loyle Carner has never shied away from being vulnerable, but on hopefully !, the British polymath takes things even deeper but also keeps them lighter. His fourth album is a soul-baring voyage through fatherhood, childhood, and the ever-shifting idea of identity, coming on like sunlight through a storm cloud. It’s Carner as you’ve never quite heard him before. Introduced with the surprise double drop “all i need / in my mind,” hopefully ! finds Carner not just rapping but singing, not just performing but producing, and forming the dream band he never knew he needed. The result is an album that floats on newfound clarity, buoyed by positivity and a gentle sense of self-acceptance.
At the center of hopefully ! is Carner’s young son, whose presence is felt in voice, in image (he graces the album cover), and most of all, in spirit. The record pulses with paternal awe, not the kind that drowns in sentimentality, but the kind that sees the world anew - cracked open, full of risk and wonder. Carner imagines songs like warm letters home, filled with percussive lullabies and jazz-flecked grooves that reimagine what “alternative” really sounds like. It’s a new chapter for an artist already loved for his introspective storytelling. From 2017’s Mercury Prize-nominated Yesterday’s Gone to the potent rage of 2022’s hugo, Carner has always kept it personal. But hopefully ! is even more than that. It’s confessional and healing. Where past records reckoned with grief, race, and coming-of-age turbulence, this one offers a kind of peace. It’s not about perfection, it’s about perspective.
But Carner’s evolution isn’t just about music. Like a Renaissance man of modern Britain, he’s added actor to his resume with the upcoming BBC drama Mint, and received an honorary doctorate from UAL for his advocacy around ADHD and dyslexia, work he’s furthered through his Chilli Con Carner cooking workshops for neurodivergent youth. Still, it’s music that remains his clearest channel. The 15 tracks of hopefully ! glow with warmth and tenderness, built from sessions steeped in joy and risk. There’s funk, soul, broken-beat, even a trace of post-rock experimentation, but nothing ever overpowers Carner’s steady voice, which is always ready for the moment. A decade into a career that has taken him from open mics to the Royal Albert Hall, Carner is more than a voice of a generation, he’s its heart.