Stormzy - 'Sorry Rach!'
Stormzy drops bars on surprise new single ‘Sorry Rach!’.
It's been a while since we’ve heard new music from Stormzy so the announcement of single ‘Sorry Rach!’ comes as a wonderful surprise. Though he hasn’t released his own music since ‘This is What I Mean’ in 2022, he’s had a handful of collaborations and features from the likes of RAYE, Chase and Status and Jacob Collier. Away from music, things have been anything but quiet for Stormzy after a year of commentary and criticism about his partnerships with McDonalds and deletion of certain instagram posts. Though the release itself comes out of the blue, it’ll be a surprise to no one that ‘Sorry Rach!’ is a brilliant track. Laced with his signature tongue-in-cheek lyricism, its release has led to widespread excitement and speculation about what we can expect from the rapper going forward.
The track sees Stormzy outline all the things he’s been up to during this hiatus period and addresses the disconnection he feels has grown between himself, his artistry and his fans. Upon first listening, it reads as Michael reclaiming the ‘Stormzy’ identity. A diss to the haters and doubters, it’s a reminder that he’s not going anywhere. The video that was released plays up the persona of someone who doesn’t care; hood up, a new set of grills to show off and a swagger that screams ‘I am not to be messed with’. Everything from the camera direction, which swings between closeups on Stormzy’s face and clips of him dancing to the way the video is lit and coloured, is meant to come off as a representation of his pent up emotions. Is it anger? Is it aggression? Or is it potentially something more complicated. Standout line ‘the world might never love your boy again but my mother will’ in a lot of ways encapsulates the track and everything it represents. To some, its release is two fingers to the world and anyone who called out his behaviour. For me though, it’s Michael reconciling with and trying to come to terms with the consequences of his actions. The mistakes he made, both as himself and as the artist we all know as ‘Stormzy’, have led (perhaps understandably) to a lot of scrutiny from the public. Those who ‘loved’ him have turned their backs on him, leading to this hardman attitude of ‘whatever, see if I give a shit’. The reality though that underlies everything is that he is just human; a flawed individual who is deserving of love. It’s not a defence of his past actions but more of a signal to those who dismissed him as having sold out or lost his morals entirely that he can change. All of this deeper meaning could well be projection and the track may just be an expression of machismo and self assurance but you can’t help but hope that his return is a sign of reconciliation with the fanbase.
Whilst a lot of people have focussed on the ‘controversial’ talking points brought up on the record, what emerges to me is that Stormzy and more importantly Michael is doing the best he has been in years, both personally and in his artistry. Though it’s fun to try and decode who ‘Rach’ might be ( the current theories are that it is either its his sister, whom he has written great tracks about before or his publicist who is seemingly the voice from the audio clip at the start of the song) , the consensus amongst followers is that it is good to see Stormzy back and on top form. From the beat switches to his effortless flow, simply put it’s a banger of a song.
This, plus the second surprise release of single ‘Hold Me Down’ begs the question as to whether we can expect a comeback over the summer. Even if we can’t be sure of a tour, though one is mentioned in the track, we do know of some of the plans and projects in the pipeline. Last month, it was announced by the National Theatre that Stormzy is involved in a production set to open at some point in the next couple of years that will incorporate music. We can only hope that the theatrics of this surprise release are a soft launch of more drama to come.
Words by Kirsty-Ann Thomson
