In October 2022, Loyle Carner released his third album which encapsulated a pristine take on the usual concepts of the UK Hip Hop scene as it stands today. Carner remains one of the UKs most up-and-coming UK Hip Hop artists and in this way is compared to the likes of Dave, Knucks and Slowthai. Steering away from his erstwhile themes of family and love, Benjamin Coyle Larner amalgamates forgiveness, stories about his father and being of a mixed heritage in his most recent album HUGO.
In previous albums, "Not Waving, but Drowning"(2019) and "Yesterdays Gone" (2017), it has felt as though there has been a trivial link between each song in regards to theme and meaning. Within the album, the songs could fluctuate from love, to songs about his future children, to mental health. But never in any preceding albums have the songs so intensely captured and stuck to such specific themes and matters. The rapper’s sophomore album is a personal introspective journey that explores themes of love, loss, forgiveness and grief. This has been a refreshing and distinct take for the industry to hold.
South London was the place in which Loyle Carner, formerly known as Benjamin Gerard Coyle Larner, grew up. This can now seem to be a zero-degree point to his music, with his childhood and family life being at the core of many songs such as “Dear Jean”, “Florence” and “Still” Not only does Loyle Carner vocalise the struggles and injustices that the world face in his music, he also mentions the anecdotal plights This can be seen not only in his childhood but following him into his early adulthood. His mother, Jean, raised Benjamin and his brother alongside their stepfather Nik. He always wants to focus on how much his mother has had an influence on his music, with her love of jazz and soul shaping his unique sound. In 2014, his stepfather unfortunately passed unexpectedly from epilepsy.
Although Carner never directly says this, we understand that his stepfather acted as a father figure for his whole life because he had very minimal contact with his biological father. Without doing any research into Loyle Carner’s personal life we can assimilate this information and the sheer effect that this has had on his later life, but also the effect it had on his musical concepts.
Yet, what differentiates the album HUGO from all his other albums? In 2020, Carner found out that he was going to be a father. And so his immediate response was to contact his biological father. In doing so, he did not sustain the response that he was anticipating- the response he obtained initially was nothing. Yet when he finally did acknowledge him, he said he wanted to teach him to drive, sparking conversations, explanations and in turn, forgiveness. All held in his red Volkswagen Polo with the number plate ending in HGU, inspiring HUGO.
To fans and listeners, the album reads like a story. The first track is ‘Hate’ which is Loyle Carner’s way of expressing his hatred and injustices in his own life which can be largely relatable to a lot of his audience. He particularly in this song focuses on his mixed heritage background and the discrimination in regards to careers available, ‘it was all that you could be if you were black playing ball or maybe rap’. He explores the problems that come alongside presumptive tendencies when saying society is ‘putting numbers on the wall hoping people would react’. In reality, this is not enough to make recognisable and noticeable changes in the world. This song was released as a single before the album was
released introduce the key motifs that would be introduced in the rest of the album.
The song ‘Hate’ juxtaposes the concluding song in the album, which focuses on forgiveness.
This gives the album a journey, as though every song represents the steps that he took and the thought processes that covered his mind during this process. The final song; HGU is a song for his father, where he sets himself free from the hatred that he has had for him for many years prior. The first lyrics of the song paved the way for the overall meaning of the entirety of the album ‘HUGO’. The song is almost a concluding statement of what Carner meant throughout his album - why he was able to let go. ‘Hurt people hurt people’ is his way of stating that his father only hurt him because he didn’t obtain the tools when he grew up to be able to understand his feelings. In turn, he was incapable of treating other people with forbearance.
‘Watching history repeat itself, so I can rewrite the ending and the prequel’.
Carner proves when saying this that even though he has experienced the same lack of paternal figures in his life as his father did, and grew up with almost the same societal barriers that his father did, he wants to change the legacies of his son and make sure that his life steers away from these obstacles. By doing this he needs to change the prequel, in other words, his child’s early life, to edit the ending. Holding the knowledge of one’s personal life is crucial in making the lyrics seem more important, to understand further meanings. His way of being able to forgive becomes much more impressionable after hearing about his struggles in his own life. Openly in many of his previous songs in his albums, he speaks about his ADHD and dyslexia not defining him as a person, but still acknowledging that it is a part of him. This has been an extremely influential element to Carner’s music and has led him to create and find many opportunities to help others who also have ADHD. If even just singing about it and letting people know that their role model is just like them isn’t enough, he also created ‘Chilli Con Carner’ which is a cooking class aimed at giving those with ADHD a safe space to come and socialise, learn to
cook and have fun. Not only has he conquered his personal life problems, but he has also gone even further and helped others and changed the lives of many, making them feel seen.
The second song on the album, named ‘Georgetown’ was amongst one of the three songs that was released as a single before the album as a whole came out. The song begins with a sample of the poem written by John Agard, an Afro-Guyanese playwright, and poet, called ‘Half-Caste’. ‘Black like the key on the piano, white like the key on the piano’. This lyric in the song is inspired by this poem and repeated to emphasise his mixed heritage background. Going hand in hand with the following track ‘Nobody Knows’ similarly shines light upon the theme of being of mixed heritage and feeling as though you are lost within who you are. It focuses on trying to understand who you are whilst simultaneously not even obtaining a father figure or role model to aid these queries and perplexities.
‘Are you lost? Uh, or are you just another man? Sittin' in my sunshine tryna catch a tan’. Developing Carner’s ongoing plights with his father, this repeated phrase acknowledges that his father and some people in society have stunted his growth by using his fame and achievements for their benefit. ‘So how can I hate my father, without hating me’ This sentence sets himself free from the hatred for his father. This song anchors itself as a turning point in the album. HUGO is a testament to not only Loyle Carner’s growth as an artist but also their growth as a person. His introspective music with ongoing themes has been seen, to be honest and vulnerable, tackling topics which are often seen to be extremely difficult. In modern-day music, Benjamin Coyle Larner has established himself as such an innovative and exciting voice, earning him a devoted fan base. No matter the theme, his music presents itself as relatable, moving and forever authentic.
Release date: 21st October 2022
Record label: Virgin EMI Records
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Loyle Carner
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