It was not foreseen. There was no plan. Kae Tempest was working on another album, “practically finished”, but something wasn't working. The songs no longer spoke. “It didn't seem the right one for this moment of my life,” he says. Almost by mistake, however, he was born Self titled: the most direct, fragile and visceral work of his career. With Mercury Prize and Brit Awards nomination behind, collaborations with the legend Hip Hop Rick Rubin, successful theatrical pieces and collections of poems translated all over the world, the London artist is one of the most powerful and recognizable voices of the English and world scene, capable of crossing different languages while maintaining rare consistency: that of truth. With Self titledwhich was born during a creative crisis, Tempest returns with a job that is rendered together with the accounts, liberation and identity declaration.
“I was in the studio from Fraser T. Smith just for an opinion on some demos,” he says, as soon as we begin our chat in the London offices of Universal Music, welcomed among the first of a long day that will be dedicated to interviews and meetings with the media. “And instead he said to me:” Why don't we leave everything alone and try to write something together, without expectations? “. So this album was born ». From that unexpected freedom to a naked, honest, urgent artistic guise: «Every day something spontaneous was born. We didn't look for the perfect single, but something that was true. That energy has become the backbone of the disc. And you feel ».
The first song, The stands on the lineis an opening in apnea. A silent reckoning, looking back with the gaze pointed inside. Why Self titled It is not just a title, it is a declaration of identity: «Writing by addressing me to the young man's version was like re -establishing an interrupted floss. He helped me to see things with more compassion, even towards versions of me that I had forgotten or put aside. There is something healing in that dialogue. ” The same gaze crosses Know Yourselfwhere a phrase written during adolescence appears, a meta-diaologist perfectly in line with studies and works at the theater: «Rereading it today amazes me. Sometimes the past has more courage than we believe. I realized that my voice of that time already had in a truth that I am still looking for. “
The city is always there, it cannot be otherwise. In HyperdistillationLondon returns as a pressure, rhythm, memory, identity. «The South East is my heartbeat. Even if they don't name it, there is. But now the relationship has changed, it is less mitized. More real. Maybe sadder, but also richer in nuances. This city forms and at the same time hurts. Yet it is always home, even when it makes me feel out of place ».
In the middle, there is also room for a more happy reflection. Forever It is one of the most suspended moments of the album, a kind of emptiness that lets the cycle of songs breathe: «I wanted to write something that contained tension, but without having to explain it. A song that was a space to stop. Sometimes silence is the thing that says most ». Delicacy is a force that crosses the whole disc, in particular in 'Til Morningperhaps the most intimate song in the lineup. «I had recorded it in a decidedly more angry version. But Fraser said to me: “Sweetness is more powerful. Anger tends to close, tenderness opens.” And it's true. That sweetness is not weakness: it is vigilance, it is awareness. It's love ». The border between anger and passion is one of the guidelines of Self titled. A balance of nuances that never gives up clarity: «I didn't want the disc to be a manifesto, nor a diary. It's just a place where I told the truth. Whoever wants to listen will find his ».
Kae Tempest has always moved between poetry, Spoken Word, theater and music. Despite having gone through different genres and languages, his voice has remained a constant: rhythmic, precise, unmistakable. In songs like Statues in the SquarAnd – a powerful denunciation in the screams “have never wanted people like me in these parts, but when I die they will put my statue in the square” – we return to the essential flow of the beginning: «When I find that rhythm between the word and breathe everything aligned, the voice finds its place. That's where my truth begins ». In other moments, such as in Breathewriting becomes even more a declaration of his path: “It was one of those moments in which writing is not a job, it is survival”.
The disc is a lucid, proud, never didactic identity statement: «Today being authentic is a political act, especially if you live on the margins. But I didn't want it to be a record on identity. I wanted to be part of the disc, naturally. Without asking for permission ». The result is a job that stands on a simple and powerful belief: «There is a lot of fear around, but also a very strong need to show yourself as you are. Love, in all this, is the most radical force ». And reflecting on the power of authentic expression and on its impact in the non-locory community, he adds: “I believe that the simple act of being yourself and showing itself in the space of music can have an important effect: it is representation, familiarity, brotherhood. It's like saying: “Come on, come on!”. It is a joyful gesture, even in a difficult moment like this, in which exposing itself publicly it can frighten. Sometimes the desire to hide, to disappear, not to be noticed is born. But that desire arises from fear. Instead, the choice to get up and show himself comes from love. And love, for me, is the greatest force between these two opposite thrusts ».
In 2022, Kae brought More pressure On the stage of X Factor Italiaa surprising context for those who have always seen him as an intimate, independent artist: «It was strange, but beautiful. I had never thought of being there, but I realized that the message can travel everywhere, if it is authentic. Even on a stage where you don't expect to find it ».
Looking back, remaining attentive to the future, Self titled It is perhaps the record closest to the essence of Kae: «I feel that this work has chosen me. He had his urgency, and I am happy to have given him space. It was like going home, but seeing new eyes now. Yes, I feel the person I wanted to be right now ».
