hopefully !

Hopefully! isn’t just a stylistic shift; it reaffirms his position as one of the UK’s best storytellers. As Carner enters the next season of his career, he makes way for the new while staying true to what made him a breakout star, and he’s taken his lyricism and storytelling to a whole new level.

Now, it has come full circle, Carner has matured and Hopefully! represents the poetry of a loving father.

It would be wrong to view hopefully ! as a step back into Carner’s comfort zone based on a surface assessment. The live band used throughout the record gives hopefully ! a relaxed and blissful undertone, enriching the feeling of sunbathing or watching a sunset that Carner’s repeated mentions of the sun craft in the listener’s head. Vocally, the rapper pushes his boundaries more than perhaps ever before.

A contemplative, decidedly indie collection that trades sonic innovation for stillness and emotional clarity.

It seems Loyle has started listening to himself more, with ‘hopefully!’ artfully demonstrating his progression through musical influence, as well as through life.

His lyrics and instrumentals may be more intricate than before, but they come together more coherently than ever. This isn’t just Loyle Carner at his most refined, it is the start of a new chapter.

It’s classic Carner: the place where heady feeling threatens to tip over into cloying soppiness. Yet thanks to a pleasingly precarious new vocal style and some levelled-up lyricism, he’s more adept than ever at this specific balancing act.