Hugo
Studio album by
Loyle Carner
Released28 October 2022 (2022-10-28)
GenreExperimental hip hop, Jazz rap, Progressive rap
Length34:05
Label
Producer
  • Earl Saga
  • Kwes
  • Nick Mills
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Madlib
  • Rebel Kleff
  • Alfa Mist
  • Puma Blue
  • Zento
  • Loyle Carner
Loyle Carner chronology
Not Waving, but Drowning
(2019)		 Hugo
(2022)
Singles from Hugo
  1. "Hate"
    Released: 4 July 2022
  2. "Georgetown"
    Released: 19 August 2022
  3. "Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)"
    Released: 13 September 2022

Hugo (stylized as hugo) is the third studio album by English hip hop artist Loyle Carner. It was released via Virgin EMI Records on 28 October 2022.[1] The album was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize.[2]

Background

Three years passed between the release of Hugo and Carner's previous album, Not Waving, but Drowning. During this period he focussed on Chilli Con Carner, his cookery school for children with ADHD.[3] His ongoing struggles with dyslexia and ADHD would inform the lyrical content of Hugo. He also released three singles in 2020: solo release "Yesterday," "I Wonder Why" with Joesef, and "Let It Go" with FARR and Flatbush Zombies producer Erick the Architect.[1]

Songs

Carner's first child, a boy, was born in late 2020.[4] He stated a desire for his music to be a "a true representation of the facts" for his son to look back on, documenting Carner's life as a young, Black, artist dealing with issues from his past.[5] As a result, the lyrical content of Hugo is largely autobiographical. The album was written during the lockdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[5][6] He also considered the introspective tone of the album to be in part due to this "hedonistic side of career being stripped away. There were no shows, no backstage, no festivals, no photoshoots."[7]

Carner was influenced by Kendrick Lamar, saying "When you're young, there's a charm to the fact that you're a bit naive. You don't know what you're striving for. It's a balance because you don't want to be too old to feel connected to the culture of youth that you're trying to speak to. There's a sweet spot in the middle, like Kendrick with To Pimp a Butterfly, where you're naive enough to still be free-speaking, but considered enough to refine your shit."[4]

"Georgetown" was named after Carner's paternal grandmother's birthplace, and samples John Agard's poem "Half-Caste", which recounts the author's experiences of racism as a mixed race man in Britain. Issues of racism, and feeling separate from the Black community, are also present on "Hate".[4] "Blood on my Nikes" recounts a murder Carner witnessed as a sixteen-year-old, and includes a speech on knife crime by teenage activist Athian Akec.[5] Throughout the album he references his relationship with his estranged father, with whom he had recently developed a relationship, and whose recorded voice is sampled on several tracks.[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic87/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
DIY[9]
The Guardian[10]
NME[5]
The Line of Best Fit9/10[11]

Hugo was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 87, based on 8 reviews.[8] Writing in The Guardian, Damien Morris called the album a "beautiful, blistering masterpiece," praising the "intense" production and elements of jazz, as well as the subject matter.[10] Fred Garratt-Stanley of the NME gave the album four stars out of five, named it Carner's "most polished record yet," singling out the production of Kwes for helping the rapper "move from dynamic, multi-syllabic storytelling to a more honest, reflective voice."[5] Hayley Milross of The Line of Best Fit also praised the lyrical content, noting that the introspective themes "demonstrate some of Carner's finest and best work."[11]

Year-end lists

Publication List Rank Ref.
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2022
26
GQ The best albums of 2022 —
Louder Than War Louder Than War's Albums of the Year 2022
51
Gigwise Gigwise's 51 Best Albums of 2022
38

Track listing

Track listing and credits adapted from Tidal and Discogs.[16][17]

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Hate"
  • Earl Saga
  • Kwes
  • Nick Mills
4:04
2."Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Kwes
  • Morgan Simpson
  • Nick Mills
  • Thomas Lee Barrett
  • Kwes
  • Nick Mills
3:07
3."Georgetown" (featuring John Agard)
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Madlib
  • John Agard[a]
Madlib2:57
4."Speed of Plight"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Kwes
  • Rebel Kleff
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Kwes
  • Rebel Kleff
3:00
5."Homerton" (featuring JNR Williams and Olivia Dean)
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Alfa Mist
  • JNR Williams
  • Kwes
  • Richard Spaven
  • Rocco Palladino
  • Sheila Maurice-Grey
2:49
6."Blood On My Nikes" (featuring Wesley Joseph and Athian Akec)
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Alfa Mist
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Kwes
  • Nick Mills
  • Richard Spaven
  • Rocco Palladino
3:37
7."Plastic"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Alfa Mist
  • Kwes
  • Richard Spaven
  • Rocco Palladino
  • Alfa Mist
  • Kwes
3:29
8."A Lasting Place"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Harvey Grant
  • Kwes
  • Puma Blue
  • Gabriel Stebbing[b]
  • Kwes
  • Puma Blue
4:22
9."Polyfilla"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Kwes
  • Jordan Rakei
  • Kwes
3:13
10."HGU"
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Zento
  • B. Coyle-Larner
  • Kwes
  • Nick Mills
  • Zento
3:21
Total length:34:05

Sample credits

  • "Hate" contains a sample of the recording "The Sun One" performed by Sun Ra.
  • "Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)" contains a sample of the recording "Nobody Knows" performed by Pastor T. L. Barrett and The Youth For Christ Choir.
  • ^[a] "Georgetown" contains elements of the poem "Half-Caste" written and read by John Agard.
  • ^[b] "A Lasting Place" contains elements of the song "I Tried So Hard" by Gabriel Stebbing.

Charts

Chart performance for Hugo
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[18] 27
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[19] 126
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20] 42
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 65
Irish Albums (OCC)[22] 13
Scottish Albums (OCC)[23] 6
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 44
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 3
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[26] 1

References

  1. 1 2 Keith, James (24 October 2022). "Loyle Carner Returns With 'Hugo', His Third Studio Album". Complex. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Snapes, Laura (27 July 2023). "Mercury Prize 2023: Arctic Monkeys tie Radiohead's record for most nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Garvan, Sinead (26 August 2018). "Meet rapper Loyle Carner, who helps teenagers with ADHD through cookery classes". BBC Online. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Mistlin, Alex (19 July 2022). "Loyle Carner: 'There's a whole other side to me that's darker'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Garratt-Stabnley, Fred (20 October 2022). "Loyle Carner – 'Hugo' review: an honest, unflashy storyteller". NME. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  6. ↑ Lynch, Jack (21 October 2022). "Loyle Carner Is Standing Up for the Things That Matter". Hypebeast. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  7. ↑ "Loyle Carner - Hugo / EMI". Piccadilly Records. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Hugo by Loyle Carner". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  9. ↑ Kerwick, Sean (21 October 2022). "Loyle Carner - Hugo". DIY. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  10. 1 2 Morris, Damien (23 October 2022). "Loyle Carner: Hugo review – a beautiful, blistering masterpiece". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  11. 1 2 Milross, Hayley (21 October 2022). "Hugo demonstrates Loyle Carner's expansive talents". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  12. ↑ "The 50 best albums of 2022". NME. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "The best albums of 2022". GQ. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Albums of The Year 2022". Louder Than War. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  15. ↑ "Gigwise's 51 Best Albums of 2022". Gigwise. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  16. ↑ "Hugo by Loyle Carner". listen.tidal.com. Tidal. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  17. ↑ "Loyle Carner - Hugo (2022, Vinyl)". Discogs. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  18. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Loyle Carner – Hugo" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Loyle Carner – Hugo" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  20. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Loyle Carner – Hugo" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  21. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Loyle Carner – Hugo" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  22. ↑ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  23. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  24. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Loyle Carner – Hugo". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  25. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  26. ↑ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
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