Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Fudge’ Arrives Oct. 23 After a One-Year Delay

By Elena Vasquez

Michael Kiwanuka released his fifth album, Fudge, on Oct. 23, roughly one year behind schedule, according to Rolling Stone’s report on his new short documentary.

The Making of ‘FUDGE’: A Film premiered exclusively on Rolling Stone. Canwell’s film combines intimate 2023 footage of Kiwanuka and friends at work with interviews tracing the album’s development and his changing creative philosophy over time.

How did a sketch become ‘Fudge’?

Rolling Stone places the filming in spring and summer 2023. Kiwanuka had decamped to a small, remote recording studio near his Southampton home in England. He was about halfway through work on Small Changes, his 2024 follow-up, while conceptualizing what came next. Rolling Stone identifies him as the Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter behind 2019’s Kiwanuka.

The later project grew from the “fun, mindless doodles” Kiwanuka made at university or while chatting with someone. He wanted the record to resemble a detailed journal sketch without losing that loose, playful quality.

Kiwanuka described the intention this way: “This album,” he says, “I wanted it to be like a really detailed version of those sketches you do in the journal.”

His aim was precise music with a playful, stream-of-consciousness feeling, and the title captured that deliberate balance between structure and spontaneity throughout the record’s making.

Kiwanuka also said: “Fudge has got, like this playfulness to it,” he says. “It’s not something serious, like, ‘’Do you want to eat caviar?’ I don’t know about that, but you’ll never turn down fudge.”

Takeaway: A private habit of doodling supplied the album’s central idea.

Why did ‘Fudge’ arrive a year late?

Rolling Stone notes that Fudge had originally been scheduled roughly a year earlier. The original reason for the delay was not explained when the timetable changed.

Last July, Kiwanuka dropped out of a festival in Ireland. The announcement cited a “continued illness.” Rolling Stone says the delay coincided only somewhat with that news.

After the withdrawal, Kiwanuka largely disappeared from public life. He recently disclosed that he had suffered a stroke. He continues his recovery and has done little press to support Fudge. That silence left the short film to carry the story of the album’s creation.

His absence from interviews gave the short film unusual access to the creative process, while the stroke disclosure reset the story around the delayed record.

Takeaway: The delay stayed unexplained, but illness and recovery now frame the album’s release.

What does the new film show?

Rolling Stone’s short documentary follows Kiwanuka and his friends working and spending time together. It pairs intimate behind-the-scenes footage with interviews about the album as it developed. Those interviews also address Kiwanuka’s evolving creative practice and philosophy. The approach keeps the studio sessions within a shared routine of work and friendship.

Canwell, a videographer and photographer, directed the film. In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, she said: “It was a privilege to be given the freedom to document Mike and the whole creative process.” She added: “And it was magic, just like any time I spend with Mike, to see it all happen.”

Her account stresses freedom rather than a prescribed narrative. The result documents not only how the songs and record took shape, but also how a private creative habit became a carefully structured fifth album. Rolling Stone presents the film as a unique window into the making of Fudge, with interviews keeping Kiwanuka’s own account and creative philosophy at the center.

Takeaway: The film supplies the creative-process context that Kiwanuka’s long absence from publicity removed from view.

For now, the film carries the public conversation about Fudge while Kiwanuka continues his recovery.