The rapper, poet and playwright opens up about the importance of writing about queer joy, collaborating with Fraser T Smith, and his legacy so far: „I don’t focus myself in hatred“
Kae Tempest has shared the empowering new single ‘Know Yourself’ and spoken to NME about his upcoming self-titled album, which he has announced today (April 30).
Tempest’s fifth studio album will be released on July 4 via Island Records, and has been co-produced by Fraser T Smith (Adele, Stormzy, Dave). The record will also feature the likes of Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, Young Fathers and Connie Constance.
Last March, the rapper, poet and playwright kicked off with his newest music since 2022’s ‘Line Is A Curve’, the striking single ‘Statue in the Square’.
Now, he shares his latest single ‘Know Yourself’, along with the news of his upcoming fifth studio album. With queer icons like Princess Julia, Joelle Taylor, Sweatmother, Debbie Smith, and Dr Ronx appearing in the music video, ‘Know Yourself’ is another celebratory track dedicated to Tempest’s own perseverance and self-belief.
Here, Tempest tells NME about what is undoubtedly his most intimate and personal record yet, along with the importance of writing about queer joy, collaborating with Fraser T Smith, and his legacy so far.
NME: Hey Kae! Tell us about how this album came to be…
Kae Tempest: “It came about very naturally. I was trying to make this other album and I played a couple of demos to Fraser and he said, ‘I don’t think this is what’s meant to be coming out of you right now. Let’s start again and see what happens’. So we got together and it felt like being caught in a strong current. It’s like something wanted to happen, this album wanted us to make it. That’s the only way I can put it.
“One of the things that I found really helpful about his companionship in the studio is his guidance, asking me to write what only I could write. What is it that only I can say, that no other lyricist in the UK can say? Well, it’s my story, it’s what I’m going through. There’s not many people that can tell that story apart from me right now.”
This album sees you directly referencing the realities of your life right now as a nonbinary person. We’re in quite a turbulent time right now when discussing the trans/nonbinary community. Did you feel the weight of that responsibility at all whilst you were writing?
“It’s not like I feel the weight of a responsibility. It was important for me to show up for my community, to show up for myself being a trans man and a non binary person. These are just crucial elements of my make-up.
“If I’m being celebratory and honest and uncompromising about expressing myself, there’s some freedom that will come in terms of other people’s own feelings about what they may not feel comfortable expressing amongst friends, family or in public.”
This album ends on quite a hopeful note. How do you find the energy to continue to be radically empathetic in times where there’s so much hatred?
“I don’t focus myself in that hatred. There’s always been this hateful response to the tyrannical hold of what I would classify as post-capitalist post-industrialist society. We’ve been living in this for hundreds and hundreds of years.
“For me, what’s more helpful and beautiful to focus on is the resilience that’s also a part of the human make-up and the connection that I feel with community, that I feel with all other human beings – to go underneath the rage, hysteria and blame to the place where we’re all resonating at a similar frequency. I go on stage and I know what it feels like to disappear into music and to take a room with me. And that means that 2000 people that you’ve never met start to synchronise their heartbeat.
“That’s some real shit. That’s more real to me than 2000 people feeling hatred for each other, even though I know that it’s a really devastating proposition to think of how we live right now.”
In the music video for your new single ‘Know Yourself’, you’ve got queer icons like Princess Julia and trans man dancing joyfully in the background. Could you talk about the concept of the video?
“People are obsessed about how difficult being trans is. Being trans isn’t difficult, it’s fucking extraordinarily beautiful. What’s difficult is being in the closet, hiding from yourself, lying to yourself, living death of self denial and pushing who you are down so far that you can’t function being out in the open. Being connected to your true self is incredibly beautiful.
“I think the videos and the songs, they’re celebrations. Finally, the difficult part is over now – the difficulty is out there. But if you’re not facing that in yourself, the hatred I get from other people, that’s nothing compared to the fear, pain and hatred I was giving myself. That transition has solidified my resilience against what I can face from the world. Somebody might physically kill me, but the spiritual death that I was suffering is over.”
You’ve teamed up with Fraser T Smith for this record. What’s Fraser like as a person and how have his skills inspired you to make this album?
“Thanks for asking that question, it’s so nice for me to think about Fraser. He just gets really excited by the process. He’s an incredible musician, he plays every instrument in the studio. He has this freedom about him because he has nothing to prove, so he’s really happy to pursue an idea a long way. If it isn’t the right idea, it’s not a waste to have pursued it. He’s incredibly attentive and extremely positive.
“He’s also the only person ever in my life that’s given me a performance note! Like no one’s ever given me a performance note – they’ve given me general notes, but Fraser’s literally giving me notes about hanging back on certain pushes that I might make in my flow, which no one’s ever done. It’s incredible. He really understands what an MC is doing, I’ve never had somebody in my corner like that. He’s like a corner man in a boxing ring.”
Speaking of collaborations, were you also previously friends with any of the collaborators on this record, like Young Fathers, Connie or Neil?
“I’ve been friends with Young Fathers for about 10 years. Connie, same: just love what she does too. Neil, no, we’d never met, but obviously adore and cherish that human being. And I’m very grateful for the beacon that he lit.”
A post shared by KAE TEMPEST (@kaetempest)
One of the highlights of this new record is ‘Breathe’, which is six minutes of relentless emotion and energy – done in one take, right?
“Yeah, that was the direct response of Fraser saying to me, ‘What is it that only you can say right now?’ Rick Ruben said that to me before as well, but sometimes I resist that – I’m like, ‘Why can’t I just write? Why does it have to be me?’ But because of what’s happening in my life, I thought, ‘OK, maybe I’m ready’. So I wrote ‘Breathe’. It was a freestyle: write it, put it down, one take. I was shaking in the booth, it was really intense. And it felt incredible.”
It’s been over a decade since your debut album ‘Everybody Down’. What does the word “legacy” mean to you? Do you think about it?
“Sometimes I take stock and I just feel grateful, because I can remember when it was a dream; when nobody would listen to me or sign me and my friend had to be like, ‘Listen to my bredrin!’. But then as things start to happen, you get this spine-tingling, goosebumps moment of, ‘wow, this kid that was so driven, how did they know?’
“The main thing that I think about really, in terms of legacy, is the next piece, the next idea. The way my brain works is I’ll have the idea that I’m working on, and then I’ll have in my peripheral the next two or three ideas that I know I’m not allowed to look at yet because I don’t have the headspace to look at them. As one starts to finish, another one comes forward and I can start to see it orbiting my brain. And then when it gets to about here, I know I’m allowed to look at it and then I can start thinking about it, pulling it down and creating the work out of it. That’s how I live day to day.”
That’s insane…
“[Laughs] That’s just how it’s always been, though! Before, I had to do more because nobody was listening. So I was like, fuck it, I’ve just got to do everything – that’s the only way I’m going to fucking smash these doors down. I would have five or six things I was doing at the same time. Thank God for ADHD!”
Kae Tempest will release self-titled on Friday July 4. Check out the tracklist below
‘I Stand On The Line’
‘Statue In The Square’
‘Know Yourself’
‘Sunshine On Catford’
‘Bless The Bold Future’
‘Everything All Together’
‘Prayers To Whisper’
‘Diagnoses’
‘Hyperdistillation’
‘Forever’
‘Breathe’
‘Till Morning’
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