Stormzy Shares ‘This Is What I Mean’ Video
The visual features Amaarae, Black Sherif, Jacob Collier, Ms Banks, and Storry.
Stormzy has shared a music video for “This Is What I Mean,” the title track from his celebrated new LP. The visual also stars Amaarae, Black Sherif, Jacob Collier, Ms Banks, and Storry.
The video begins with shots from the crowd at Stormzy’s album launch party, before revealing an empty warehouse that housed the group on the same night as the release event. All the footage was filmed during that evening.
The London rapper penned a letter that accompanied the release of the record in which he addresses his critics and says all he can hope for is that the deeply personal record is given a chance whether they end up liking it or not.
He wrote: “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.”
In the letter, Stormzy also insists he doesn’t care if the record is hated. He admitted: “People been tryna to box me in for years but I hope this chapter at least makes my biggest critic say, ‘Hey, he’s s__t but he loves music and I guess he’s gonna do whatever he likes.’ Lol. (sic)”
He added: “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.”
He concluded: “I pray that it moves you and captures your imagination and I pray that someone, somewhere feels it.”
Stormzy recently said that having at least one person “feel” his music is an achievement. He shared: “I’ve never been this excited for new music. I’ve never felt so proud and confident in the art I’ve made. And the beautiful thing about it is that it’s…all my confidence and all my pride comes from the art. It doesn’t come from who people may think I am or what I’ve achieved – it’s none of that. It’s just a, ‘Yo, we’ve made something really beautiful, really special’. Something that people will feel, you know what I mean?”
