# Kiwanuka (album)

Kiwanuka is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka. It was released on 1 November 2019 through Polydor and Interscope Records. The album won the 2020 Mercury Prize, and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.5/10 |
| Metacritic | 89/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Chicago Tribune | |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| NME | |
| Pitchfork | 7.5/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Times | |
On the review aggregator website Metacritic, Kiwanuka has a score of 89 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
Dave Simpson of The Guardian hailed Kiwanuka as a "bold, expansive, heartfelt, sublime album" and one of the best of the decade, while Dorian Lynskey of Q called it a "compassionate, career-defining masterpiece". In her review for NME, Elizabeth Aubrey highlighted the personal nature of its lyrics, commending it as "a daring leap of self-affirmation." Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph described it as "an album in which a troubled spirit seeks the relief of music to mesmerising and charged effect." In a year-end essay for Slate, Ann Powers cited Kiwanuka as proof that the album format is not dead but rather undergoing a "metamorphosis", with artists such as Kiwanuka utilizing the concept album through the culturally-relevant autobiographical narratives, which in this case is a "song cycle alchemizing violence through compassion".
The album won the Mercury Prize 2020. It was the third time in his career he had been nominated following nominations for Home Again and Love & Hate but the first time he had won.

### Accolades

Accolades for Kiwanuka :
| Publication | List | Rank |
| Afisha Daily (Russia) | The Best Foreign Albums of 2019 | 6 |
| Albumism | The 50 Best Albums of 2019 | 6 |
| AllMusic | Best of 2019 | — |
| American Songwriter | Top 25 Albums (and 25 More That We Loved) of 2019 | — |
| BBC Radio 6 Music | Albums Of The Year 2019 | 3 |
| Chicago Tribune | Best rock-pop-rap albums of 2019 | 4 |
| Clash | Albums Of The Year 2019 | 9 |
| Double J | The 50 best albums of 2019 | 16 |
| The Economist | The best albums of 2019 | — |
| Gigwise | 51 Best Albums of 2019 | 5 |
| God Is in the TV | GIITTV Album Of The Year Poll Results 2019 | 2 |
| Good Morning America | 50 of the best albums of 2019 | 2 |
| The Guardian | The 50 best albums of 2019 | 12 |
| Houston Chronicle | Andrew Dansby's albums of 2019 | 6 |
| The Independent | The 50 best albums of 2019 | 18 |
| The Line of Best Fit | The Best Albums of 2019 Ranked | 20 |
| Mondo Sonoro (Spain) | The best international albums of 2019 | 7 |
| musicOMH | Top 50 Albums Of 2019 | 4 |
| The New York Times (Jon Pareles) | Top 50 Albums Of 2019 | 8 |
| NME | The 50 best albums of 2019 | 8 |
| No Ripcord | The 50 Best Albums of 2019 | 11 |
| PopMatters | The 70 Best Albums of 2019 | 18 |
| Under the Radar | Top 100 Albums of 2019 | 34 |

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Michael Kiwanuka, Brian Burton, and Dean Josiah Cover

## Personnel

Credits adapted from digital liner notes.
Musicians
* Michael Kiwanuka – vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (1, 3, 8–10, 14), bass (1–5, 7–11, 13, 14), percussion (1), electric guitar (2–5, 7–11, 13, 14), keyboards (13), organ (13), piano (13), synthesizer (13)
* Inflo – background vocals (1–5, 7–11, 13, 14), drums (1–5, 7–14), electric guitar (1), percussion (1–4), piano (1–5, 10–12, 14), vocals (2, 11), organ (2, 8, 9), synthesizer (2–5, 13, 14), keyboards (3, 4, 7), programming (4, 8)
* Rosie Danvers – cello (1, 3, 8, 11, 14)
* Kadeem Clarke – keyboards (1), synthesizer (1, 7, 11), piano (6, 10), Wurlitzer electric piano (11)
* Danger Mouse – percussion and tambourine (1), electric guitar (3), programming (4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14), keyboards (7)
* Nick Barr – viola (1, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14)
* Natalia Bonner – violin (1, 3, 5, 8)
* Zara Benyounes – violin (1, 5, 8, 13)
* Alecia Chakour – background vocals (3, 10, 11)
* James Casey – background vocals (3, 10, 11)
* Dizzy Daniel Moorehead – saxophone (3, 10, 11)
* Jasmine Muhammed – background vocals (3, 10, 11)
* LaDonna Harley Peters – background vocals (3, 14)
* Paul Boldeau – background vocals (3, 14)
* Saundra Williams – background vocals (3, 10, 11)
* Yolanda Greaves – background vocals (3, 14)
* Bruce White – viola (3)
* Anna Croad – violin (3, 10)
* Patrick Kiernan – violin (3, 5, 10, 11, 14)
* Sally Jackson – violin (3, 5, 10, 11, 14)
* Stephanie Cavey – violin (3)
* Steve Morris – violin (3, 5, 10, 11, 14)
* Bryony James – cello (5, 11, 14)
* Richard Pryce – double bass (5, 11, 14)
* Jean Kelly – harp (5, 6, 10)
* Emma Owens – viola (5, 10, 11, 14)
* Fiona Leggat – viola (5, 10, 11, 14)
* Deborah Widdup – violin (5, 10, 11, 14)
* Eleanor Mathieson – violin (5, 10)
* Ellie Stanford – violin (5, 11, 14)
* Gillon Cameron – violin (5, 11, 14)
* Hayley Pomfrett – violin (5, 11, 14)
* Helen Hathorn – violin (5, 11, 14)
* Kotono Sato – violin (5, 11, 14)
* Chloe Vincent – flute (10)
* Nathan Allen – percussion (10)
* George Hogg – trumpet (10)
* Jenny Sacha – violin (10, 13)
* Sarah Sexton – violin (10)
Technical
* Danger Mouse – producer
* Inflo – producer (all tracks), mixer (4, 6, 12), recording engineer (12)
* Matt Colton – mastering engineer
* Richard Woodcraft – mixer (2, 3, 5, 8–11, 13, 14), assistant recording engineer (3), vocal engineer (7), recording engineer (8, 9)
* Kennie Takahashi – recording engineer (1–5, 7–11, 13, 14), mixer (1, 7, 10)
* Tom Campbell – recording engineer (4), assistant recording engineer (1–3, 5, 7–9, 11, 13, 14)

## Certifications

Kiwanuka sales certifications :
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000$^‡$ |
| $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||