Stormzy has dropped the music video for ‘This Is What I Mean’, the title track of his new album. Adding to the excitement is that the song and clip feature Amaarae, Black Sherif, Jacob Collier, Ms Banks and Storry.
The video opens with a short clip of phone footage of the crowd at Stormzy’s album launch last week, before it cuts to a scene of Collier – who co-wrote the track – miming the classical-inspired piano intro. A title card also reveals that the video was shot the same night as the launch party, with it cutting between it and scenes of the individual artists featured.
This Is What I Mean dropped last Friday (November 25th), via Stormzy’s #Merky and 0207 Def Jam. Prior to the title track, the Croydon native had already released the singles ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘Firebabe’, which were well-received. The record then came with a personal message from him, where he asked fans to listen to it “with an open heart”.
In the note posted on social media, Stormzy explained how he was inspired to pen the candid message by Tyler, the Creator, who did the same before releasing 2019’s Igor.
Stormzy revealed that he was “hesitant” to share his thoughts in such a way, saying: “I would love for my music to do all the talking but I thought I’d share this message anyway.”
He continued: “I feel like I overshare, which makes me feel naked at times. But I do it so that you guys can understand me a bit better and to give the art that I make some context.”
“I pray you listen to this album with an open heart and if you hate it after I promise to God I’m perfectly fine with that, I’m just grateful you listened with openness”, the rapper concluded.
