O My Beloved

Kings Of Leon return with O My Beloved, their tenth studio album and the follow-up to 2024’s Can We Please Have Fun. This time around, the Followill brothers have taken a rather different route, swapping some of the bigger, electric-rock sound of recent records for something more stripped-back, acoustic-led and personal. The change of direction came after frontman Caleb Followill broke his foot while playing tag with his children, forcing him to take a break from touring and giving him time to pick up a guitar and start writing songs at home. What began as a bit of enforced downtime ended up becoming the basis for the whole record.

The 13 tracks are rooted in family, childhood memories and the sort of everyday moments that can seem insignificant until you look back on them years later. Lead single “My Whole World” is a warm, affectionate celebration of domestic life, while “Cold Blue Dawn” has a more reflective feel, looking at the gap between youthful dreams and the reality of growing older. Elsewhere, “The Hand”, “Rose” and “Feel The Love” keep things intimate, with the band leaning into acoustic guitars, more organic arrangements and Caleb’s increasingly weathered vocals rather than reaching for the arena-sized choruses that have become their trademark.

There’s a fair bit of nostalgia running through O My Beloved, but it doesn’t sound like a band simply looking backwards for inspiration. Caleb has spoken about wanting to appreciate the people and experiences that brought them to where they are now, and there’s a genuine sense of gratitude running through the songs. The album also marks the first time Kings Of Leon have produced a record entirely themselves, giving them the freedom to follow this quieter approach wherever it took them. Even the title track’s lo-fi origins fit the mood: it was recorded on a smartphone outside their Nashville studio, a suitably unpolished touch for a record that puts feeling ahead of perfection.

For a band who went from scruffy Southern rock upstarts to global festival headliners, O My Beloved feels like a chance to take stock and reconnect with what brought them together in the first place. There are still plenty of melodies here, but the emphasis is on warmth, family and the passing of time rather than trying to recapture the swagger of Youth & Young Manhood or the huge commercial highs of Only By The Night. A more mature, homespun Kings Of Leon record, then - less late-night rock ’n’ roll excess, more looking through old family photographs and realising just how quickly it all goes.

01. Intro
02. My Whole World
03. Cold Blue Dawn
04. The Hand
05. Rose
06. Make It Count
07. KOYSAR
08. Feel The Love
09. Blue Jeans and Diamonds
10. Warm Company
11. Forever Endeavor
12. Pretty Thing
13. Get You Down