With the release of their 2024 album ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ desperately pleaded to make music without being tied down to what is expected of them. However, on their most recent album, ‘O My Beloved’, they no longer feel the need to ask if they can make the music that makes them happy – they just do.
More than two decades since their formation – ten albums in, over 20 million records sold and four Grammys won, undoubted rock royalty – Kings Of Leon, have earned the ability to stray from what people expect of them – and this is what they do in ‘O My Beloved’, their first full-length self-produced album. With self-production comes complete control over their creative direction, and, evidently, the direction they wanted to go in was the complete opposite of where they’ve been.
Swapping out loud drum beats, raspy vocals and gritty guitars for personal lyrics, emotional vocals and jangly acoustics, Kings Of Leon seem to have mellowed. Don’t be fooled, though – this does not mean their music has become lacklustre or easily dismissable. Packed with Americana tunes that would make even The Boss himself Bruce Springsteen shed a tear, ‘O My Beloved’ deserves to be heard.
The first glimpse into this album came with the arrival of the single, ‘My Whole World’, an ode to appreciating everything you have – the perfect introduction to a set of songs which frontman, Caleb Followill, states is about “our families, stories from our childhood, things that maybe didn’t seem that significant at the time”. Accompanied by stripped-back, jangly guitars, Followill gently sings: “I’m grateful today for / my whole word / that sweet peace of mind…”
No longer concerned about fame, unstable relationships and sex which is supposedly ‘on fire’, Kings Of Leon’s lyrics take on a matured tone, with little pockets of wisdom woven into each track. In ‘Make It Count’, between an impressive guitar solo, the band urge listeners to carpe diem – ‘what are you waiting for? / you only get one shot / make it count / because the chains are running out’.
It’s a beautiful thing to watch an artist you grew up with grow old enough to mellow out and write music about it – we will never know what a or album would sound like if it was about family, stability, or contentment. But, for Kings Of Leon, it sounds like returning to themselves and the raw, unfiltered sound they created when they first moved to Nashville.
‘O My Beloved’ is a triumphant tenth album, defined by thought-provoking lyricism, unabashed Americana and soothing melodies, making the next chapter of life seem much less daunting.
8/10