I thought Marvin Gaye was incredible but I never took my voice seriously, says Michael Kiwanuka ahead of new album

IT has taken four albums, but it was only while making new record Small Changes, that Michael Kiwanuka finally felt confident about his voice.

The singer, who won the Mercury Prize in 2020 for his last album Kiwanuka, says: “I used to listen to great singing voices like classic Marvin Gaye and think ‘Wow, their voice is incredible and they would do this way better’.

“It made me realise how I never really took my voice seriously.

“But now I accept my singing voice and that I sound like I do. I’m getting to sing and put my music out, so I want people to hear it.

“With this album it clicked that I’m blessed to have this and now I enjoy doing vocal takes rather than just ‘do’ them. Whereas before I sort of took my singing for granted, now I celebrate it.”

And Small Changes is a gorgeous record that should be honoured.

It has been five years since Kiwanuka put out his self-titled album that earned accolades from every corner including Brit and Grammy Award nominations — it was also Something For The Weekend’s album of the year in 2019.

‘Understated album’

Not that there’s any ego on show following this acclaim.

As we chat at the singer’s record label office, Kiwanuka is as grounded as he was the last time we met.

“You don’t make albums for the awards but, when they come, it’s massive,” he says about winning the coveted Mercury Album of the Year prize in a year when other nominees included Stormzy, Charli XCX and Dua Lipa.

“And when I won SFTW’s album of the year, I still have that at my mum and dad’s. It’s on the wall. I got it framed.

“When you make an album, you want to connect and awards help you gauge that some people are connecting, which is such a privilege because so many people make music and put it out there.

“So, getting those landmarks, like a Grammy nom or a Mercury win are important. It’s a good marker for that connection which every artist wants to do if they’re being honest. I liken it to being a kid in the playground and no kid in that playground will say, ‘I don’t want to make any friends.’”

Kiwanuka describes Small Changes as “an understated album”.

“It’s different from Kiwanuka,” he explains. “If people wanted Kiwanuka round two they’re not going to get that.

“I didn’t want to make another version, a worse version. It had to be something new. It’s so stripped back compared to the other albums, it’s a bit more subtle. I love the warmth of these songs and the fact that people are feeling that too is, for me, massive.”

The singer, 37, says Small Changes is the most personal album of his career and reflects his happy life with his wife Charlotte and their two young children, aged six and eight.

“It’s about growing, you know, years rolling on,” he says.

“When I say rolling on, I feel grown up, I mean like, pretending to be an adult. Charlotte and I have been together for eight years, and we’ve dealt with changes and the shifts that life brings.

“Becoming a parent means you start thinking not just of yourself, but your family which is obvious, but it’s a strange one.

“As a father you have to go over what you’ve written and make sure that you can stand by it, because kids are always going to ask questions you want to be able to answer and not lie.

“You don’t suddenly learn all these new things but you make the small changes, a step at a time. And these tiny movements allow you to make big impacts, which makes life a bit easier to deal with.”

‘Through thick and thin’

Kiwanuka says each song on the new album is about a small change he has made in his life.

He says: “I’m dealing with things whether it’s represented in love songs or Live For Your Love, Stay By My Side, or One And Only [the gorgeous song which he wrote about his wife].

“We’ve been through thick and thin and we are a team. So much stuff can change in the world around you, but you just stick with it, and deal with it together. And that’s really comforting to know in such volatile times.

“Then, Rebel Soul is a song about personality and making sure you don’t diminish parts of who you are as a human being if it doesn’t quite fit in. You need to lean into that rebel soul.”

Kiwanuka was also one of the must-see performances at Glastonbury in summer, which was his first show in the UK for a couple of years.

The singer sounded and looked amazing, dressed in a Ugandan robe to celebrate his heritage (his parents left the country in the Seventies to escape the brutal regime of former president Idi Amin.

He says: “It was sunny, it didn’t rain and wearing the robe, which is called a kanzu, was important to me as it reflects who I am.

“I have a Ugandan mum and dad, but was born in the UK so I feel both Ugandan and British.

“It was an expression of my identity, an amalgamation of my identities. A kanzu is a traditional, Ugandan suit.

“You’d wear it at a wedding, a posh do or anniversary and it’s a big deal. Which getting to play the Pyramid Stage also is if you’ve grown up watching or going to Glastonbury. So, dressing like that felt like something both poignant and loud.

“It showed I was finally confident about my heritage as I wasn’t always.

“When I started, I’d wanted to be a new, cool, guitar playing British singer, so I would be a bit coy about my heritage. Glastonbury was showing that I’m now comfortable in my own skin.”

It’s the third album in a row that Kiwanuka has worked with Danger Mouse and Inflo (Brian Burton and Dean Cover) as producers.

Inflo fronts the super cool and eclectic music collective SAULT who Kiwanuka performed with in London last year.

Kiwanuka says: “It was important to not just keep repeating stuff. They both work with so many artists.

“So, I remember saying to Inflo, ‘What would an album sound like when I’m not trying to be cool. When I’m just putting down what’s on my mind’.

Amazing stories

“And that was the first impetus. Nothing was forced and it was more about the melody and what I was feeling in my heart and less fireworks.

“Brian’s got a studio in America and because it was so intimate I could just sit down with my acoustic and just strum.”

In the studio with Inflo, Kiwanuka met legendary producer Jimmy Jam (of Jam and Lewis) the songwriting duo and producers behind hits by Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Usher and had been in Prince’s band The Time.

Kiwanuka says: “Jimmy came in as he’s friends with Inflo and started to play on the album. He played on Rebel Soul, One And Only, Live For Your Love — he played on loads.

“All the Hammond Organ you hear is Jimmy and Terry [Lewis] even turned up one day and hung out.

“They had amazing stories. Jimmy told me about Whitney Houston and how he wanted to do the Whitney album but Clive Davis wouldn’t let him do it.

I remember thinking: What
 would an album sound like if I wasn’t trying to be cool?

Michael

“Then Pino Palladino [legendary bassist] came in too and played. He’s cool as he plays on D’Angelo’s Voodoo album I was obsessed with when I was young.

“He’s also played with David Gilmour who is a huge influence too, Lowdown II is pure Pink Floyd. I’ve met his daughter and she came to one of my gigs and I was desperate for him to come, but he didn’t. Although I’d also be quite scared if I did ever meet him.

“I once saw Jeff Beck at Heathrow and I went up to say, ‘I’m a big fan’, and he just scowled at me.”

A former jazz student at the Royal Academy of Music, Kiwanuka quit after he felt the course there wasn’t right for him.

It was there, he says, that he got into the work of Quincy Jones, the American jazz musician, producer, arranger and composer who died earlier this month at the age of 91.

“I had a friend at college who had this massive Quincy Jones biography book that he would always be reading. I knew Quincy had produced Thriller but I didn’t know about the Sinatra At The Sands and the Ray Charles connections.

“So, I started buying and went through a massive Quincy Jones phase. I couldn’t believe you could produce Michael Jackson and do beats, big band jazz and Sinatra.

‘Immersed in it’

“He was really inspiring and this guy was cool. Quincy Jones leaves a massive mark on most musicians that love music.”

Kiwanuka has just finished a co-headlining tour with former Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard and has just announced his own tour for next year.

He says: “Brittany is an absolute legend, one of the cleverest people I know, and brilliant musician.

“Now I’m looking into next year, I want to create a gig that brings the Small Changes album to life.

“The feeling of the album but also the colour of it, too, so they’re immersed in every sound and feeling of it.

“Whatever way we can to get to do that is what I am going to try to do.

“It’s going to be hard because of costs, but this is a special record to me and needs to be heard.”

• Small Changes is out on November 22