Michael Kiwanuka is one of those artists who you probably recognize by one of their songs, even if you don’t know them by name.
“Cold Little Heart,” from the British singer’s 2016 album Love & Hate, found a wide audience after it was used in the opening credits for the HBO series Big Little Lies. It’s an impossibly perfect song, and even just the first 20 seconds or so asustain me for the rest of the day, even before Kiwanuka comes in with his incredible voice.
Earlier this year, the 39-year-old suffered a stroke, brought on by high blood pressure that he’d been dealing with for a while. In a letter shared on social media in late September, Kiwanuka confirmed he has a “long, tough journey ahead.”
“I’m not sure when I’ll be able to be back out on the road or what that will look like, the brain injury I suffered was quite severe so there’s a lot of rehab to be done,” wrote Kiwanuka. “I’m fighting to get better. It has been a difficult few months I must say but it feels like I’m on my way there now.”
Nonetheless, there is a new album from Kiwanuka coming on Oct. 23, called FUDGE. The album has been in the works for a while: Kiwanuka wrote the songs “almost concurrently” with his previous album, Small Changes, and then recorded them in early 2025. The opening track, “Summer Clothes,” is out now, and it’s what you could call “classic Michael Kiwanuka.” It features his beautiful voice, backed by lush instrumentation and production and deeply affecting lyrics.
The song opens with an excerpt of an interview with jazz pianist Chick Corea, laying out what could be a thesis statement for the album: “You have to learn to be certain about what you like, not what you think sounds good to someone else… Whatever you think is beautiful, that’s what’s beautiful, and you have to pursue that.” Lyrically, “Summer Clothes” could be interpreted as a breakup song, but with what we know about Kiwanuka’s current health struggles, the lens changes, and we can hear in the song the voice of someone who’s ready to fight, survive and live well.
“Summer Clothes” is streaming at all of the usual places, and FUDGE is available for pre-order.
