A Wonderful Life

On the outside, Tom Odell is living the wonderful life he sings about on his seventh album. The former BRITs Critics’ Choice winner has hit a prolific patch since becoming an independent artist, with his fourth album in five years. He’s gaining new fans on TikTok, opened for Billie Eilish (a fan of his 2024 album <i>Black Friday</i>) on tour in 2025 and delivered a self-assured tribute to Brian Wilson at Glastonbury a few weeks before this release. But dig deeper into his lyrics and there’s a mass of vulnerability, self-doubt and sadness at the world. The willingness to bare his soul has led to a deep connection with fans—underlined by the continuing viral success of his 2012 debut single “Another Love” and 2023’s “Black Friday”—and <i>A Wonderful Life</i> finds Odell at his most authentic, even if he still doesn’t love the mid-thirties version of himself. “I’m standing in the mirror/I want to change my skin/Wish that I was taller/Wish that I was thin,” he sings on the early Radiohead-esque “Ugly”. Written on tour in 2024, <i>A Wonderful Life</i> is a snapshot of a hectic period in which Odell balances the messy business of life on the road with love and friendship. There’s a nod to a pre-gig burnout on “Can We Just Go Home Now”, where he’s determined to carry on despite his ills: “Call the doctor up to my hotel room/You see I’ve lost my voice, I’m in a very bad mood/Give me drugs, give me a drip, give me a 20 minute’s rest.” But the show does go on and by the time Odell reaches the album’s closing track, the Leonard Cohen-inspired “The End of Suffering”, there’s a glimpse of light coming through the curtains. “It’s good to see the sun,” sings Odell, suggesting that life might still be a little bit wonderful after all.