The singer took to his Twitter to announce the release to fans.

I never want to take making music for granted ever again. This is one of the lessons this last year and a half has taught me. So it’s my pleasure to share with you ‘Beautiful Life’. Even in the dark times there’s some beauty. Even when it’s not easy.https://t.co/0a48uFRgjJ pic.twitter.com/S43chmQbV4

— Michael Kiwanuka (@michaelkiwanuka) October 12, 2021

The Mercury-Prize winning artist’s dreamy new release was recorded during work on his upcoming album. Kiwanuka recorded his new material in London and worked with producer St Francis Hotel. The new single’s press release describes the track, “it’s classic Michael Kiwanuka; all otherworldly sounds, psychedelic hues, and that rich, mellifluous vocal. A welcome return by one of the most visionary artists of a generation.”

After the release of his last album, the singer embarked on a tour in support of his third studio album, Kiwanuka. However, due to the recent COVD-19 pandemic, the artist’s tour was cancelled and subsequently was unable to play the new material live. Within this downtime, the singer had time to write and work on his fourth studio album. It was during this time that director Orlando von Einsiedel approached Kiwanuka to collaborate on his new documentary, “Convergence: Courage In A Crisis”. The singer’s new track “Beautiful Life” is the title track for the Oscar award-winning director’s feature, the documentary is available to watch on Netflix.

Kiwanuka has provided the following statement concerning his new track, “In this song I wanted to focus on the feeling that there’s a real strength in the human spirit when you try to look for beauty even in difficult situations. Of course, in some situations that becomes more and more difficult. But I just wanted to ponder on that and wonder what life would be like if I lived it like that. Ultimately whatever people feel from hearing the song is ok with me. But what I was trying to emit through the music was a feeling of defiance. A feeling of strength through adversity.”

In 2020 the singer won the Mercury Prize for his third studio album Kiwanuka. The singer has been shortlisted twice prior to his win, he received nominations for Home Again and Love & Hate. The album was also nominated for Best British Album of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards, the singer was also nominated for British Male Solo Artist.
The album was released on 1st November 2019 via Polydor and Interscope Records and sired 5 singles. The singer’s third album was released to great critical and commercial success and reached number two within the UK album charts.

In more recent news, the 34-year-old singer has been writing and demoing songs from his upcoming fourth album. Kiwanuka will soon be hitting the road, in Spring 2022 the singer will be performing his new material live. The award-winning artist will start the UK leg of his tour in Glasgow on 6th May, the tour will wrap up with an appearance at the Green Man Festival. The singer’s UK tour comprises of 15 UK performances including a sold-out performance at Knebworth Park in June with Liam Gallagher. For the rest of 2022, the multi-talented artist will be continuing his tour in Europe.

Michael Kiwanuka UK tour dates

06/05/2022 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
08/05 – O2 Academy – Leeds
09/05 – De Montford Hall – Leicester
11/05 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
13/05 – Empress Ballroom – Blackpool
14/05 – Bonus Arena – Hull
17/05 – O2 Apollo – Manchester
18/05 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle
20/05 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
21/05 – Pavilions – Plymouth
23/05 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
25/05 – Alexandra Palace – London
04/06 – Knebworth Park – Herts (With Liam Gallagher)
08/08 – Summer Sessions – Edinburgh
18-21/08 – Green Man Festival – Brecon Beacons

Click here to listen to “Beautiful Life“.

‘Stations of the Cross’ is something of a profound song title, and the lyrics betray a real shrewdness. “Weekends follow weekends / like the stations of the cross” Rice sings. “And it’s not that you’re unhappy you’re just happy on and off.” Under the surface of a flashy, cool setup at Kennington’s iconic cricket ground, there lies a bleakness about growing older and disillusioned. It strikes a great contrast with Sports Teams’ unique, and cheery, guitar band sound.

Sports Team rarely take themselves too seriously, though. From their record label account, Holm Front, they called it a “mostly competent version.” They are underselling themselves; the energy of the video is contagious.

Deep Down Happy has been nominated for the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize, which will be announced live on The One Show next Thursday (September 24). Although there won’t be a ceremony on the scale of previous years, there will be plenty of TV and radio coverage throughout next week to celebrate all the nominees. The full run of events can be found here.

Speaking to NME about their upcoming nomination, Alex Rice said, “I’d rather win The Mercury Prize than anything else. It’s just bigger than anything else. It does feel like recognition from people just like us, who are obsessed with music, which is incredible.”

All in all, it’s been a big week for Sports Team. With precedent out of the window, what better way to prepare for an awards ceremony than by attempting to beat Pete Doherty’s time on the mega breakfast challenge at Margate’s Dalby Café? This is what guitarist Henry Young got up to yesterday – the band shared the following pictures of his attempt. For those interested, the breakfast consists of four rashers of bacon, four fried eggs, four sausages, onion rings, mushrooms, beans, bubble and squeak, hash browns, two slices of toast and – of course – a quarter-pounder burger with a side of chips.

Pete Doherty, if you have any pride, you will come down to the Dolby and defend your title pic.twitter.com/yZ5veZw7U3

— Sports Team (@SportsTeam_) September 15, 2020

Unlike Doherty, Young didn’t finish. Sports Team followed up with a tweet that just says “flop team”. 

Next April, Sports Team are heading up and down the country for a small UK and Ireland tour – although they won’t be returning to Margate on this occasion. You can see where to catch them below.

20/04/21 – The Grand Social – Dublin
22/04 – Leeds University Stylus – Leeds
23/04 – The Albert Hall – Manchester
25/04 – Rock City – Nottingham
26/04 – SWG3 – Glasgow
28/04 – SWX Bristol – Bristol
29/04 – O2 Academy Brixton – London

#TimsTwitterListeningParty pic.twitter.com/8O0GkRf0Se

— Tim’s Listening Party (@LlSTENlNG_PARTY) August 28, 2020

#TimsTwitterListeningParties have only gained in popularity throughout the duration of lockdown. Tim Burgess initially brought them back at the height of isolation, and they proved to be one of the best ways that social media could be used as a force for good. There have been at least 400 Listening Parties – at least one almost every night since March 23 2020, when they kicked off with the Charlatans’ Some Friendly. 

The premise is that everyone puts an album on at the same time and then a commentary is produced by a number of people who were responsible for putting the album together. These range from the informative to the hilarious, and Bonehead always cries when he comes to the end of hosting a Listening Party. At the same time, you can ask questions or share opinions in real time.

It’s also worth noting that there is a degree of excitement that you get when you know that all over the world people are listening to the same album at the same time. In the absence of live music, knowing that everyone is going to put on a great song at the same time feels like a unifying event. Each Listening Party is then available forever at https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/, where the tweets are archived in the order that they were sent out.

Digging even deeper into archive for this one — original demos, all sorts https://t.co/u9AJYCAbgz

— Sports Team (@SportsTeam_) August 28, 2020

The 2020 Mercury Prize nominees were announced earlier this month. Other than the ones listed above, they are Charli XCX, Kano, Michael Kiwanuka, Dua Lipa and Stormzy. This year, for the first time ever, there are more female solo artist nominees than male.

This is Laura Marling’s fourth Mercury Prize nomination, so she comes in at joint second for the most nominations ever, alongside PJ Harvey and Arctic Monkeys. The group who have been nominated most in the Prize’s 29-year history are Radiohead, who have had five albums up for the Prize. Stormzy’s Heavy Is the Head, on the other hand, is the grime star’s first ever nomination. Everything you need to know about the 2020 Prize is here.

Like everything, the Mercury Prize has had to do a little adapting this year. What you can expect on the day of the awards is a whole lot of great TV and radio coverage from the Mercury Prize partner BBC Music, in place of a live event. This isn’t completely confirmed yet, but in the meantime, you can get involved in the Listening Parties to get excited! Times and dates are below.

Wednesday 2 September 2020
8pm – Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter
9pm – Moses Boyd – Dark Matter

Thursday 3 September
7pm – Georgia – Seeking Thrills
8pm – Anna Meredith – Fibs
9pm – Porridge Radio – Every Bad

Wednesday 9 September
8pm – Lanterns on the Lake – Spook the Herd

Thursday 10 September
9pm – Sports Team – Deep Down Happy