Michael Kiwanuka Announces Fifth Studio Album FUDGE

Michael Kiwanuka has announced his fifth studio album, FUDGE, set for release on October 23, 2026, via Interscope Records.

The album was recorded in Southampton and Frome, with its release left pending for almost twelve months due to Kiwanuka's ongoing battle with ill health, which he addressed directly to fans via social media. With Kiwanuka's blessing and his excitement and pride in the new project, FUDGE now receives its imminent release.

The album also marks a shift behind the boards. For the first time since his 2012 debut, Home Again, Kiwanuka took the lead on production rather than working alongside longtime collaborators Danger Mouse and Inflo. He later brought the initial recordings to producer Dom Monks (Laura Marling, Big Thief) and longtime strings collaborator Rosie Danvers (Coldplay, Adele) to complete the record. Ultimately, FUDGE is Kiwanuka following his instincts and rediscovering the simple joy of making music. 'You have to work out what you think is beautiful and trust and believe in that,' he says. 'That's what being an artist is.'

FUDGE is the culmination of an especially prolific creative period for Kiwanuka and was written largely alongside his 2024 fourth album, Small Changes. Over time, FUDGE evolved into a project all its own — made without the bells and whistles of a major studio and with a distinctly more homespun approach. The result is a warm, evocative, and deeply personal record.

All live commitments remain on hold indefinitely.

FUDGE can be pre-ordered and pre-saved here.

Tracklist

Summer Clothes

California

Just Another Moment

Drowning In Your Heart

Love In My Heart

Across The Sky

Stars

You Sent Me Flying

Move In My Direction

Steve's Paradise

Sing

Swings And Roundabouts

The Making Of FUDGE

At the heart of FUDGE is a sense of creative freedom — freedom from pressure, expectation, and second-guessing. Hence the title. 'When I think of fudge it's playful and childlike, which is good for creativity,' Kiwanuka explains. 'But also it's a polite way to say I'm just going to do it.'

The album took shape over three years alongside Small Changes, largely at Dreamers, a small one-room studio named by Kiwanuka near his home in Southampton. Working with live band multi-instrumentalist Joe Connell, Kiwanuka embraced a looser, more instinctive way of recording. The breakthrough came when the pair abandoned a frustrating session and simply started jamming, resulting in the seven-minute 'Love In My Heart.' 'It felt moving to me,' says Kiwanuka. 'I wanted to share it with other people. That was the eureka moment. It sounds like we're in Capitol Studios on Vine Street, but we're actually huddled in this shack outside Southampton.'

That spontaneous spirit runs throughout FUDGE. Often recorded in single, flowing takes, the songs were given room to stretch out, resulting in a record that feels looser and more unguarded than anything Kiwanuka had made before.

Across the album, Kiwanuka also wrestles with his relationship to creativity itself. 'Stars,' first recorded as he was emerging from a crisis of confidence following Home Again, finally finds a home on FUDGE, while 'Summer Clothes' and 'Swings And Roundabouts' explore the uncertainty of finding his own creative path. On the anthemic 'Sing,' he confronts his recurring doubts about making music: 'It really does make me feel alive to make music and to sing.'

Photo Credit: Stevie Gee