UK garage/R&B hero Craig David has announced his new studio album ‘Commitment’, to be released on August 8. His ninth record to date, it’s David’s first full-length offering since his ‘22’ album, released in 2022.
The new album will play host to an exciting selection of features, including Mike Brainchild, Toddla T, Tre-Jean Marie, Wretch 32, Jojo, Tiwa Savage and Louisa Johnson. The first taste of the album has been given in the smooth breakbeat banger ‘Wake Up’. The track draws influence from the silky 2-step sounds of the 2000’s, with David singing and rapping over those staple string stabs and rumbling bass. “Roll pon a riddim, roll pon a riddim — know/I know you’ve been hurt before, gotta let it go”, says the singer, with lyrics summing up his duality as a soulful love-singer and garage icon.
The Southampton-born singer gave a press statement on the new single and its meaning to him:
“‘Wake Up’ for me is my way of not only respecting my garage roots, but also keeping alive the cultural foundation of the sound from where it all started. The lyric reinforces literally & metaphorically the essence of making sure we don’t fall asleep on the importance of nurturing something we care about. Especially if we don’t want to end up losing it by taking it for granted. This echoes how I feel about the unique sound of UK Garage and the importance of nurturing it for generations to come around the world. I felt super inspired mixing in the vibes of ‘Indo – R U Sleeping’ on this one, just like me playing out a TS5 garage set. The whole vibe ignited some core memories for me that not only had me in my feels, but inspired me to grab the mic & spit bars again. Just like when I was on pirate radio MC’ing back in the days.”
‘Wake Up’ was released as a single featuring three other tracks that may appear on the upcoming album – a soft dancehall collab with Tiwa Savage titled ‘Commitment’, a tropical-house tune called ‘SOS’ and a song called ‘In Your Hands’ which has an almost Avicii-like whistle-pop quality.
Craig recently joined Usher onstage at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday, April 5, duetting his classics ‘Fill Me In’ and ‘7 Days’ with the American star. David stepped out to a roaring crowd, who excitedly sung back the words to his iconic tunes.
Feeling truly blessed to share the stage with the legend @Usher This is a real full-circle moment for me Growing up, I had ‘I Think of You’ and ‘U Make Me Wanna’ on repeat He’s always been an artist I deeply respect and one of the greatest to ever do it Thank you… pic.twitter.com/LeMnpTbmux
— Craig David (@CraigDavid) April 5, 2025
‘Commitment’ is available for pre-order here.
