Cynthia Erivo - I Forgive You

by Zena Grieg

published: 17 / 8 / 2025

Label: Universal Music
Format: CD

Second album from British award-winning singer and actor Cynthia Erivo which finds her on a powerful musical odyssey

Review

'I Forgive You', the second album by British Grammy, Emmy and Tony award-winning singer and actor Cynthia Erivo is a vibrant, epic mix of R&B, pop, folk and gospel-tinged songs, exploring love and healing after heartbreak. In Erivo’s words the album is “a collection of stories and songs that are both personal for things that are happening now, things that have happened in the past, and I think some of which I have had to forgive people for”. Two years in the making, the songs in ‘I Forgive You’ are all underscored by Erivo’s defiant authenticity and self-identification as queer, as declared on her appearance at the 2024 Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala: “This is why I keep singing, keep acting, keep creating. I know there are young people who need to see me speak out, so they can get one step closer to doing the same thing for themselves”. Songs to listen out for in this twenty-track collection include: the emotive ‘Save Me From You’ with its poignant lines: “I was a stranger that I didn’t love anymore, anymore/You were a stranger that I didn’t know anymore, anymore”; the sensuous R&B ‘What You Want’: “I will quench your thirst, just let me pour”; second single from the album, the expressive ballad ‘Worst Of Me’; the yearning, intimate ‘Play The Woman’; sultry, atmospheric ‘Push And Pull’ with its rap interlude, co-written with Anthony Ramos; the joyful, redemptive ‘I Choose Love’; sparse, stirring acapella ‘Be Okay’; catchy ‘Replay’ with its haunting chorus: “My mind is like a record setup on auto-replay”; the dramatic, cinematic ‘Brick By Brick’ with its intricate, swelling instrumentation and empowering refrain: ”Don’t lose, don’t lose, don’t lose yourself”; and the closer, ‘Grace’, an evocative, moving tribute to a terminally ill young fan, bringing the album to a powerful and cathartic conclusion. With reflective, resonating lyrics and dynamic vocals, ’I Forgive You’ leaves a lasting, irrevocable imprint.

Track Listing:-

1 Why (Interlude)
2 Best For Me
3 More Than Twice
4 You First
5 Save Me From You
6 Worst Of Me
7 I Want You (Interlude)
8 She Said
9 What You Want
10 Play The Woman
11 Push And Pull
12 Until You Saw Me (Interlude)
13 Holy Refrain
14 I Choose Love
15 Be Okay
16 How Could I Fall
17 I Forgive You (Interlude)
18 Replay
19 Brick By Brick
20 Grace