Black Friday (Tom Odell album)

Black Friday is the sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter Tom Odell. It was released on 26 January 2024 through UROK Management. The title track Black Friday was nominated for the Best Song Musically and Lyrically Ivor Novello Award on Thursday 23 May 2024.

Background
Recording took place at Odell's studio in London, mainly consisting of him "just sitting on the sofa" with his guitar and recording vocals in order to "capture" what they were trying to capture since other methods did not work. According to Odell, this procedure was directly inspired by the way Kurt Cobain would record music. The eponymous track, released as the lead single on 22 September 2023, was written on his 32nd birthday in 2022 and deals with "admiration and love for the people" in his life as well as the "proclivity to be unkind" to himself. "Black Friday" was followed-up by the singles "Somebody Else", "Answer Phone" and "The End".

Critical reception
Writing for Laut.de, Josephine Maria Bayer thought Black Friday was neither "monotonous" nor "predictable" with Odell surpassing himself as a songwriter and arranger. Emma Harrison at Clash noted that Odell takes him and the listener "on an emotional and intimate journey" with moments that are "enthralling" and some that are "a bit too melancholy and a smidge lacklustre". Being more critical of the record, Will Hodgkinson of The Times admitted that, despite "structure" and "interludes of orchestras tuning up", the album did not move them, calling it "all so humourless".