Kiwanuka’s Fudge, forged on the long road back

Michael Kiwanuka has announced a new album, Fudge, and confirmed that he suffered a stroke a few months earlier, caused by a brain bleed linked to high blood pressure. In a social media post on 23 September 2026, he described the brain injury as quite severe and said recovery involves a long, tough journey with considerable rehab still ahead. He thanked NHS staff and medical professionals for their care, added that he is fighting to get better and looks forward to returning to the road, though the timing and format remain uncertain.

The health issues had hindered his music-making and forced him to miss recent US gigs, including festival dates and a support slot with Mumford & Sons. He said he was especially happy to share the album news given the recent difficulties. No release date has been given for Fudge. The post is the first public confirmation of both the completed record and the health matter.

From Home Again to Small Changes

Kiwanuka, the British singer-songwriter and producer signed to Polydor Records, first broke through with Home Again in 2012. That debut went gold in the United Kingdom, and earlier the same year he was named the BBC’s Sound of 2012. Love & Hate followed in 2016 and debuted at number one. KIWANUKA arrived in 2019; in September 2020 he won the Mercury Prize. Small Changes, his most recent album before today’s announcement, was released in November 2024, with related singles including Floating Parade and The Rest Of Me earlier that year.

Across that run he has received nominations at the Brit Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards, the BBC Music Awards and the Grammy Awards. The work has settled into a clear shape: patient songwriting, careful production, and records that favour atmosphere and depth over haste. Fudge now sits as the next step after Small Changes, itself only months old when the stroke interrupted his plans. That the new album is finished underlines how far the sessions had already progressed before the injury took hold.

What the announcement leaves open

For an artist whose reputation rests as much on the stage as on the records, the missed American shows are the practical cost so far. Festival dates and the Mumford & Sons support slot fell away while he began the long process of rehab. He has been plain that a return to live work will take time, and that the shape of that return is not yet settled.

What is settled is the album itself. Fudge is ready. Listeners still wait for a release date, a tracklist and any word on how the record will be presented. Until those details arrive, the story remains the one he chose to tell: a severe brain injury, a hard recovery, gratitude to the people who treated him, and a finished body of work he is glad to share despite everything that stood in the way. The road back is long; the music, at least, is already there.