Every day in the sea that is the world of hip-hop, many albums flow. These albums – carbon copies of each other in their foundations – are shallow explorations of wealth, possessions, and lust. But it is not everyday that an album makes you stop. Set apart from the other albums of today, Loyle Carner’s fourth studio album, hopefully ! (2025), is an album with a unique and profound story that explores the internal adversities of fatherhood as experienced by the artist. The album is comprised of songs with a consistent mellow sound, and never before heard singing vocals of the artist that successfully mirror Carner’s internal navigation of his soul.
feel at home, in its swift transition from a slow pace to drum and bass, acts as the beginning of an inward adventure with Carner leaving behind his sense of comfort for the sake of healing.
in my mind, lyin, and time to go serves as an attempt at filtering head noise to extract purpose, truth, and peace amidst brokenness. Carner filters the noise while confronting the harsh reality that he simply doesn’t have the capacity to grant himself the deliverance he yearns for. It causes Carner to experience an identity crisis of sorts, causing him to question who he is, and whether he has what it takes to effectively be a father. The deeper Carner delves into himself, the more his world – growing increasingly unrecognisable – crumbles around him. Amidst this struggle, horcrux offers a slight glance of optimism for Carner who finds solace in his children despite the pain of his scars.
As alluded to in lyin, I believe strangers to be a confessional on his strained relationship with writing. Carner has become busy with fatherhood that he struggles to find the time to write; “Fall asleep beside a chair I used to write in”. In addition to this, Carner has grown and healed. Loyle Carner no longer struggles in the same way he once did, with these specific struggles being the usual subject of his songs.
hopefully and purpose detail the hope Loyle Carner finds in his children amidst the evils of the world, and the redemptive power of healing in defeating the shackles of the past to become a better man for the sake of his family. purpose is my personal favourite song of the album as the lyrics beautifully speak of the presence of redemption amidst a broken experience of life which resonates with me. Additionally, the rap flow is complimented beautifully by the Navy Blue feature. I recall feeling blown away when first listening to the song.
don’t fix me (featuring Nick Hakim) felt out of place and difficult to understand during my first listen, but as I listened to it more, the song struck me and I realised how significant it is in the story of hopefully ! (2025). I felt that perhaps this song was a window into the struggles of healing. There’s an external message of “don’t fix it for me”, but an internal plea of “fix me”, which is expressed so casually, supposedly out of fear, yet with so much intentionality and desire. Or alternatively, this song is a message from Loyle Carner telling people who try to ‘fix’ his issues to give him space, perhaps the same people who denounce Carner’s rap career, seeing it as a bad image to his children.
There’s a real symmetry in feel at home and about time. The story of hopefully ! (2025) embarks as Loyle Carner, dwelling in the emotional comfort of his family, recognises his need to deviate from the comfort to find peace. Come about time, Carner finds himself in the emotional comfort of his children and I love this! The only difference is that he now has an even greater capacity to love and and enjoy the comfort of his children.
Loyle Carner gives his family the gift that is him overcoming the struggles of his past, which is a gift that Loyle Carner has historically moved towards, as communicated through his 2015 single, Tierney Terrace, which is one of the first times that Loyle Carner delves into this struggle.
All in all, I found hopefully ! (2025) to be an amazing and timeless album that everyone needs to listen to. I’ve seen art defined as life being captured on a canvas. What I love about Loyle Carner is that he doesn’t concern himself with raps about superficial and shallow topics, but when you listen to a Loyle Carner album, you witness his life on a canvas in an intimate and authentic manner. Every time I listen to a piece of Loyle Carner music I feel immersed in the fullness of his life, which is an experience only Loyle Carner can provide.
If Loyle Carner is reading this, the singing is amazing please do it more!
As for me, I’ve been a fan of Loyle Carner since 2019, and I’m excited to see him perform live this year on the 4th of December in Sydney!
Writings of Callum 
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