Loyle Carner Is Back With New Music, a Glastonbury Headline Slot, And His Acting Debut

Loyle Carner is back with his just dropped a double single, 'all i need / in my mind’ and it hits different. These aren’t just new tracks; they signal a switch-up in sound and mindset showing an artist still evolving, still personal, and still impossible to box in.

A-side ‘all i need’ plays like a pressure valve. It bounces between frustration and reflection, with Loyle’s rap delivery cutting through guitar fuzz and broken-beat drums. There’s a rawness to it that feels earned. You can hear the influence of Big Thief and Fontaines D.C. as much as his rap roots, like he’s finally giving himself permission to step fully into that space.

Then there's ‘in my mind’. Slower, hazier, more inward. It’s also the first time we really hear him sing - properly. No guests. Just him. The result feels honest and lowkey. The kind of track that doesn’t try too hard to impress and ends up staying with you because of it. He recorded it with his son sitting on his shoulders, which says everything about where his head’s at.

Carner’s career has always balanced the personal with the ambitious. Since his 2013 EP, he’s moved through grief, growth, and genre shifts. Albums like Yesterday’s Gone and Not Waving, but Drowning turned diaristic rap into something bigger. Then hugo arrived - leaner, louder, angrier - and proved he’s still got things to say. That momentum carried him through a 35,000-cap All Points East headline and now straight into Glastonbury 2025, where he’ll headline The Other Stage being his only live date this summer.

But he’s not just sticking to music. This year also marks his acting debut in Mint, a new BBC drama from Charlotte Regan, the BAFTA-nominated director behind Scrapper. Add that to his work around dyslexia and ADHD (like his Chilli Con Carner workshops), and his 2024 honorary doctorate from UAL, and you start to see the full picture.

‘all i need / in my mind’ opens a new chapter, but it still feels true to what’s always made Carner matter. He’s still that honest voice, still pushing, still learning out loud. A decade on, he’s not done. Not even close.