GRAMMY® Award-nominated multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer Mádé Kuti has announced his Eeagerly awaited standalone debut album, Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From?, arriving everywhere via LegacyPlus Records on Friday, July 25. Pre-orders/Pre-Saves are available now.
Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From? sees Mádé Kuti – the son of Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti – continuing to push Afrobeat forward towards the next generation, blurring the lines of genre as he fuses elements of jazz, psychedelia, and rock, pulling them all into his mesmerizing orbit. The album is heralded by today’s premiere of “Life As We Know It,” an urgent and groove-laden ode to keeping the focus led by swirling brass and cyclical beats.
“I was driving with my wife in the car thinking about how funny life’s excesses can be,” says Mádé Kuti. “I asked her to play a rhythmic pattern on the passenger side dashboard as I started writing the song in my head, and I thoroughly enjoyed the direction it took. The result is a lively and groovy song with satirical lyrics about how easily we can lose ourselves in our vices. The second verse reflects on this theme and aims towards growth and progress.”
LISTEN TO “LIFE AS WE KNOW IT”
WATCH "LIFE AS WE KNOW IT" VISUALIZER
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE CHAPTER 1: WHERE DOES HAPPINESS COME FROM?
# # #
Mádé Kuti has been making waves in the music scene with his unique sound and style since the age of 8, when he began playing bass guitar and saxophone in his father’s band, The Positive Force. A graduate of London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, where he studied composition, Kuti showcased his own exceptional skills by playing all instruments on his 2021 debut album, For(e)ward, released as part of the Legacy + double-album alongside his father’s Stop the Hate. The collection was met by worldwide applause, earning a prestigious GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Global Album” alongside plaudits from the likes of The Guardian, MOJO, Uncut, NME, Loud and Quiet, The Observer, Record Collector, The Wire, The Independent, The Line of Best Fit, DJ Mag, and more.
Kuti formed his band, The Movement, that same year and has since performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including Paris, France’s Philharmonie de Paris, Zanzibar’s annual Sauti Za Busara festival, and South Africa’s African Energy Week. Along with his own dynamic work, Kuti has joined forces with a number of diverse fellow artists for notable collaborations including Coldplay’s acclaimed “Arabesque” (as well a memorable live performance at 2024’s Glastonbury Festival), PJ Morton’s “Who You Are,” and Morgan Heritage’s “I’ll Be There,” to name only a few.
Now, with the bold and introspective Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From?, Mádé Kuti continues to evolve as a reflective and radical voice in modern Afrobeat, exploring the true meaning of happiness in a world shaped by inequality, misinformation, and cultural disconnection with his signature blend of Afrobeat, jazz, alternative compositional techniques, and deeply personal lyricism. Across the project, Kuti fuses tradition and experimentation to question, reflect, and challenge what we often accept as success or progress, unpacking the societal contradictions we all live with – mansions beside homelessness, comfort built on silence, and the myth that material wealth equals happiness. Kuti doesn’t preach; he probes. At its heart, the album is not just a critique – it is a call. A call for togetherness, shared responsibility, and the courage to ask better questions about who we are and what kind of world we want to build.
Among its many thought-provoking highlights, Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From? Includes the recently premiered “I Won’t Run Away,” a seven-minute epic rich in infectious beats and unforgettable toplines available everywhere now, accompanied by an official lyric visualizer streaming now on YouTube.
“‘I Won’t Run Away’ is entirely about individual growth and enlightenment,” says Made Kuti. “It encourages everyone to face their fears and weaknesses head on with the hope that one day they’ll overcome them and walk a path they can be proud of. This in turn of course results in everyone becoming a more equipped and positive contributor to their environment, their families, their communities, and the world at large.”
LISTEN TO “I WON’T RUN AWAY”
WATCH “I WON’T RUN AWAY” OFFICIAL LYRIC VISUALIZER
Tracklist:
Take It All In Before The Lights Go Out
Find My Way
Pray
Won Na Pa
Life As We Know It
Our Own
Wait And See
You Can’t Hide
Oya
I Won’t Run Away
My Voice
Story
After The Tears Flow
