Ugly (Slowthai album)

Ugly (also referred to as UGLY, an acronym for "U Gotta Love Yourself"^[3]) is the third studio album by British rapper Slowthai. It was released on 3 March 2023 through Method Records and Interscope Records. The album features Slowthai introducing punk and rock elements to his sound,^[4] which received acclaim from critics.

Ugly
Studio album by Slowthai
Released	March 3, 2023 (2023-03-03)
Genre	Post-punk punk rock hip hop[1] grime indie rock[2]
Length	38:39
Label	Method Interscope
Producer	Jacob Budgen Dan Carey Kwes Darko Ethan P. Flynn Zach Nahome Sega Bodega
Slowthai chronology
Tyron (2021) Ugly (2023)
Singles from UGLY
"Selfish" Released: 25 January 2023 "Feel Good" Released: 7 February 2023

Background

Ugly comes after Slowthai's critically acclaimed 2021 album, Tyron. On 25 January 2023, Slowthai released the song "Selfish", and revealed the album's title that same day.^[5]

On 7 February 2023, Slowthai released the song "Feel Good".^[6] In a statement, Slowthai revealed that he "wanted to emulate the brotherhood ethos that bands have". In an interview with The Fader, Slowthai discussed how this is his most personal album yet and the new direction he has taken sonically. In another interview with Apple Music after the release of the album, he stated the following: "delving into this gave me that freedom again, I felt inspired. I wanted to do something new and challenge myself, rather than just doing what's expected of me."^[7]

The title track features Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C., whom Slowthai met at the 2019 Mercury Prize ceremony, performing the instrumental.^[8] Jockstrap's Taylor Skye helped produce the song "Tourniquet".^[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.5/10[10]
Metacritic	80/100[11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Clash	7/10[13]
DIY	[14]
The Guardian	[15]
The Independent	[16]
The Line of Best Fit	8/10[17]
NME	[18]
Pitchfork	5.5/10[19]
Slant Magazine	[20]
The Telegraph	[21]

Upon release, Ugly was met with widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 16 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[11]

Robin Murray of Clash called the album "a bold attempt to embrace [Slowthai's] contradictions" and "held together by the brutal strength of slowthai's performances."^[22] Lisa Wright of DIY gave the album five stars and commented, "Ugly is a beautiful thing to behold."^[14] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian gave the album five stars and named it the album of the week, calling it "severe, noisy and occasionally pushing."^[23] Helen Brown of The Independent commented, "On Ugly, he uses rock music as an alarm bell to jolt himself back to reality."^[16] Hayley Milross of The Line of Best Fit wrote that "Ugly displays an artistic freedom regained, reconnecting with what drew him to music in the first place. It's a creative direction that will most likely not stick around, but that's what makes it that bit more authentic."^[24] Thomas Smith of NME opined that the album "is a warts-and-all reckoning" and Slowthai's "most exhilarating project to date from front to back."^[25] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Paul Simpson concluded that, "Ugly is less of a major stylistic shift than it might seem, as slowthai harnesses his punkish energy in a way that seems natural and fitting. It's clearly a challenging, confrontational album, but it also feels like the artist's purest expression yet."^[12]

Track listing

Ugly track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Yum"	Tyron Frampton Dan Carey	D. Carey Zach Nahome	4:21
2.	"Selfish"	Frampton D. Carey Kwes Darko	D. Carey Darko	3:12
3.	"Sooner"	Frampton Daniele Pace Ethan P. Flynn Lorenzo Pilat Mario Panzeri Peter Callander	Flynn D. Carey[a]	2:54
4.	"Feel Good"	Frampton D. Carey Darko Sega Bodega	Darko Sega Bodega D. Carey[a]	2:04
5.	"Never Again"	Frampton D. Carey Darko Flynn	D. Carey Darko	4:32
6.	"Fuck It Puppet"	Frampton D. Carey Darko Nahome	D. Carey Darko Nahome[a]	1:13
7.	"Happy"	Frampton D. Carey Darko Nahome Jacob Budgen	D. Carey Nahome Darko[a] Budgen[a]	3:02
8.	"Ugly"	Frampton D. Carey Darko	D. Carey Darko	4:22
9.	"Falling"	Frampton D. Carey Darko	Darko Budgen Nahome D. Carey[a]	2:53
10.	"Wotz Funny"	Frampton D. Carey Nahome Liam Toon Nahome	D. Carey Darko[a] Nahome[a] Budgen[a]	2:39
11.	"Tourniquet"	Frampton Flynn	Flynn Taylor Skye[c]	3:47
12.	"25% Club"	Frampton D. Carey Oly Carey	D. Carey Darko[a]	3:34
Total length:				38:39

Notes:

• "Happy" and "Ugly" are stylized in all caps.
• ^{^[c]} signifies a co-producer.
• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer.

Personnel

Musicians

• Tyron Frampton – vocals, keyboards
• Yuri Shibuichi – drums (tracks 2, 3, 10)
• Blane Muise – background vocals (4)
• Liam Toon – drums (4, 5, 9–11)
• Carlos O'Connell – background vocals (8)
• Grian Chatten – background vocals (8)
• Conor Deegan – bass guitar (8)
• Tom Coll – drums (8)
• Conor Curley – electric guitar (8)
• Oly Carey – background vocals (12)

Production

• Christian Wright – mastering
• Jacob Bugden - mixing
• Dan Carey – mixing
• Alexis Smith, Andrea Cozzaglio – engineering

Charts

Chart performance for Ugly

Chart (2023)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26]	85
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[27]	26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[28]	109
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[29]	85
French Albums (SNEP)[30]	165
Irish Albums (OCC)[31]	3
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[32]	66
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[33]	30
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34]	3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[35]	91
UK Albums (OCC)[36]	2
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[37]	1

References

1. Smyth, David (3 March 2023). "Slowthai: Ugly album review – it might lose him fans but the honesty is breathtaking". Evening Standard.
2. "Slowthai: UGLY". 3 March 2023.
3. Pappis, Konstantinos (2 March 2023). "Album Review: Slowthai, UGLY". Our Culture. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
4. Ruiz, Matthew Ismael (25 January 2023). "Slowthai Announces New Album UGLY, Shares New Song "Selfish"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
5. Brodsky, Rachel (25 January 2023). "Slowthai Shares New Song "Selfish": Listen". Stereogum. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
6. Brodsky, Rachel (7 February 2023). "Slowthai Shares New Song "Feel Good": Listen". Stereogum. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
7. "Slowthai recalls playing his new album for Frank Ocean on the Fader interview". The Fader. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
8. Moore, Sam (3 March 2023). "Slowthai: "I'll sing my heart out 'til I'm fucking blue in the face"". NME. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
9. Schube, Will (3 March 2023). "Listen To Slowthai's Shape-Shifting New Album 'UGLY'". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
10. "Ugly by slowthai (reviews)". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
11. "Ugly by slowthai Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
12. Simpson, Paul. "slowthai - UGLY Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
13. Murray, Robin (1 March 2023). "slowthai – 'Ugly'". Clash. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
14. Wright, Lisa (3 March 2023). "slowthai – 'Ugly'". DIY. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
15. Petridis, Alexis (2 March 2023). "Slowthai: Ugly review – the unravelling psyche of a true British great". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
16. Brown, Helen (3 March 2023). "Slowthai, UGLY review: Northampton rapper barrels toward self-revelation in thrilling, grimey fashion". The Independent. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
17. Milross, Hayley (28 February 2023). "slowthai – 'Ugly'". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
18. Smith, Thomas (2 March 2023). "Slowthai – 'UGLY' review: the agony and the ecstasy". NME. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
19. Jayasuriya, Mehan (8 March 2023). "Slowthai: Ugly Album Review". Pitchfork. Condé Nast. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
20. Erickson, Steve (5 March 2023). "Slowthai 'Ugly' Review: A Genre-Mashing Walk on the Not-So-Pretty Side". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
21. French-Morris, Kate; Woods, Cat; Harrison, Emma; Johnston, Kathleen (3 March 2023). "Punk star Slowthai provides a breath of fresh air from self-help platitudes – the week's best albums". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
22. Murray, Robin (1 March 2023). "slowthai – UGLY | Reviews". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
23. Petridis, Alexis (2 March 2023). "Slowthai: Ugly review – the unravelling psyche of a true British great". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
24. "Slowthai: UGLY Review - artistic freedom regained | Rap". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
25. Smith, Thomas (2 March 2023). "Slowthai - 'UGLY' review: the agony and the ecstasy". NME. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
26. "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 13 March 2023". The ARIA Report. No. 1723. Australian Recording Industry Association. 13 March 2023. p. 6.
27. "Ultratop.be – Slowthai – Ugly" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
28. "Ultratop.be – Slowthai – Ugly" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
29. "Dutchcharts.nl – Slowthai – Ugly" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
30. "Top Albums (Week 10, 2023)". SNEP. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
31. "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
32. "2023 10-os savaitės klausomiausi (TOP 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
33. "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
34. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
35. "Swisscharts.com – Slowthai – Ugly". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
36. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
37. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 March 2023.