With his new album, hugo, Loyle Carner confronts both the deeply personal and the highly political.
Cinematic in scale and scope, hugo is both a rallying war cry for a generation forged in fire and a study of the personal internal conflict that drives the rest of the album – as a mixed-race Black man, as an artist, as a father and as a son.
With Mercury and Brits nominations, NME Awards and appearances in global brand campaigns (Nike, YSL, Timberland), Carner has undoubtedly had a meteoric rise to the top, culminating with his second album Not Waving, But Drowning charting at number three in the UK albums chart in 2019. However, hugo sees Carner taking a sharp detour from his previous work, putting it down to lockdown and the “hedonistic side of career being stripped away. There were no shows, no backstage, no festivals, no photoshoots”. By continuing to write in these tumultuous times with a renewed clarity and sense of artistic freedom, Carner reached deeper beneath the surface than he ever had before.
And now, following a string of warmly received festival appearances over the summer, Carner is getting ready to take hugo on the road next year. With massive stadium shows across the UK, kicking off with Dublin in February and culminating with Wembley OVO Arena in London, Carner will surely be taking live stages by storm with his electrifying new material.
More Leicester Listings MORE
Reel Histories 2026: Black Classics
Reel Histories 2026: Black Classics is a bold film programme for Black History Month 2026, amplifying the cinematic…
Black History Month Cookery Course
Black History Month Cookery Course celebrates the cultures and culinary traditions of the African diaspora through a four-week…
Lenny Henry: Still At Large
For over five decades, Lenny Henry has been a defining voice in British entertainment, shaping comedy, television and…
Book Launch – Migrants, Minorities, and the History of British Boxing
Book Launch – Migrants, Minorities, and the History of British Boxing explores how migration, race and minority communities…
Virgo Multiverse
Explore Afrofuturism, imagination and the African diaspora through Virgo Multiverse, an evening of multimedia work and performance presented…
Lemn Sissay: Let The Light Pour In – Live
Spend an evening with Lemn Sissay, one of Britain’s most influential literary voices, as he brings his acclaimed…
Black History Month: Plants and Empire
Discover how plants became central to colonial power in a specialist tour drawing on objects from Glasgow Museums’…
An Evening with Gerard Alfonzo Daley
Join writer Gerard Alfonzo Daley for a reading from The Book of Erin and an audience question-and-answer session…