The Boy Named If

The Boy Named If is the 32nd studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and The Imposters. The album was released on 14 January 2022 by EMI Records and Capitol Records.

The Boy Named If received critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

Content
The album's first single, "Magnificent Hurt" was released on October 27, 2021. Stereogum's Tom Breihan described the track as a "a straight-up rocker" and compared it to his late 70s work.

Critical reception
The Boy Named If received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 83, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 14 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that The Boy Named If was Costello's "purest doses of rock and roll since maybe Blood & Chocolate (1986)".

Personnel
Musicians
 * Elvis Costello – vocals, guitar (all tracks); piano (6)
 * Davey Faragher – additional vocals, bass (all tracks); upright bass (12)
 * Pete Thomas – drums, percussion
 * Steve Nieve – keyboards, piano
 * Sebastian Krys – background vocals (3, 4)
 * Nicole Atkins – vocals (8)

Technical
 * Elvis Costello – production
 * Sebastian Krys – production, mixing, engineering
 * Brian Lucey – mastering
 * Daniel Galindo – engineering
 * Ron Taylor – engineering
 * Dex Green – recording (8)