Stormzy reveals he was ‘dying a slow death’ after difficult year in heartfelt statement
IT’S now the beginning of a fresh year, but last year was a tough one for Stormzy.
The famous rapper and singer, who’s real name is Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., gained mass attention back in 2014, when he broke into the music scene.
But now over 10 years on, he’s reflecting on what a tough year he had, and how since the end of 2024 he’s felt like he’s been “dying a slow death”.
In a heartfelt Instagram post, Stormzy shared a statement about how it feels to gradually lose your sense of childhood wonder to reality and its twists and turns.
“Ok, I’m ready,” the star began before launching into a poetic statement.
“There’s poetry in all this chaos so lemme embrace it.
“Towards the end of 2024, my life took a few unexpected twists and turns and I was forced to pivot.
“These same events also robbed me of the wide-eyed innocence I once navigated the world with.
“Kinda like how you used to believe that Disneyland was powered by rainbows and fairy dust, and then one day you see a headless Mickey Mouse arguing on the phone and smoking a cigarette.
“This made me more resilient and put the final nail in the coffin of my desire to be understood – a part of me that, tbf, was already dying a slow death.”
The lengthy post continued on for eleven images in a carousel, detailing how Stormzy just wanted to get things “off [his]chest before [he] enters the New Year”.
He also shared how he is “eternally grateful” to the people in his life, whether they still work together or not.
He tied the statement off with the same words he scrawled at the start: “Ok, I’m ready.”
Stormzy opted to turn comments off on the simple text post, captioned with a repeat of “Ok, I’m ready.”
These same three words are the only ones in colour among the black and white statement, standing out in red.
It’s unclear exactly what “events” Stormzy is referring to when discussing the difficulty of 2025, but a couple of notable things happened to the star that did become public.
Back in March at the BRIT Awards, he took to the stage wearing a pair of sunglasses to scoop up an award for best British Hop Hop/Grime/Rap Act.
Clarifying to a confused audience why he was wearing shades inside the venue, he explained he had “bruised his cornea” during a game of padel.
“Sorry I’m wearing shade as well because I’ve mashed up my eye playing padel.
“I’ve got a very sore eye. I’ve got a bruised cornea.
“My eye’s sore under here, I’m not being a mad man with shades on inside.”
Then later on in the year in November, Stormzy shared a devastated post to Instagram sharing that the Rottweiler he owned with ex Maya Jama sadly passed away.
He said: “RIP my no.1 boy. Don’t have much to say, just gutted and heartbroken. I love you so so so much my boy.
“If you know me then you know how much Enzo meant to me, gonna miss you my guy.”