Hear Michael Kiwanuka’s Emotive New Single ‘Beautiful Life’

Michael Kiwanuka has released a new single, “Beautiful Life,” recorded in London with producer St Francis Hotel. The ethereal song serves as the title music for filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel’s new documentary, Convergence: Courage in a Crisis, out on Netflix Tuesday.

“In this song I wanted to focus on the feeling that there’s a real strength in the human spirit when you try to look for beauty even in difficult situations,” Kiwanuka said in a statement. “Of course, in some situations that becomes more and more difficult.”

He continued, “But I just wanted to ponder on that and wonder what life would be like if I lived it like that. Ultimately whatever people feel from hearing the song is ok with me. But what I was trying to emit through the music was a feeling of defiance. A feeling of strength through adversity.”

“Beautiful Life” is the musician’s first new music since he released his last album, Kiwanuka, in 2019. That album marked Kiwanuka’s third solo effort and first since 2016’s Love & Hate (and won Britain’s coveted Mercury Prize). Kiwanuka is currently working on his fourth album, with tour dates scheduled for the spring of 2022.