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‘Singing about faith was scary. I wanted to be cool’: Michael Kiwanuka on God, fatherhood and his secret to great art

As he announces ‘understated’ fourth album Small Changes, the Mercury-winning musician explains how he went from ‘slight weirdo’ to wowing Glasto – and why more of us are turning to religion

A malfunctioning vintage synthesiser notwithstanding, it all went perfectly, the sunshine and a cool breeze somehow potentiating the soft power of the music that floated from the stage: an idiosyncratic cocktail of soul, psychedelia, rock and singer-songwriter introspection that Kiwanuka has honed and reshaped over the 12 years since his debut album into something completely his own. Despite a succession of Top 10 albums and hit singles (the biggest, Cold Little Heart, was boosted to transatlantic platinum status by its use in the US drama Big Little Lies) Kiwanuka can walk into a crowded London bar on a Thursday afternoon without attracting any attention, a state of affairs he seems absolutely delighted by. Yet there he was, on stage at the world’s biggest music festival, clad not in his familiar dressed-down denims and plaid shirt but a pretty eye-catching ensemble: Kiwanuka tells me a kanzu is the kind of thing you would wear “to a wedding or a posh event, with a jacket over the top” in Uganda.

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