''Hope'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper NF, released on April 7,2023 through

Capitol Music Capitol Music Group is an American front-line umbrella label operating as a unit of Interscope Capitol Labels Group, itself a division of Universal Music Group. Inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog in 2013, it oversees the handling of ...

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label that was founded in 1973. Founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976 and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. The label rel ...

, NF Real Music, and

Virgin Music Virgin Music, known as Virgin Music Label & Artist Services until 2022 and originally as Caroline Distribution, was a music distributor of independent artists and record labels, most prominently Death Grips, Weezer, and Radiohead. Virgin Music ...

. It was preceded by two singles: "Hope" and "Motto", with the third single "

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

" coinciding with the album. It features guest appearances from

Cordae Cordae Amari Brooks ( Dunston; born August 26, 1997), known mononymously as Cordae (formerly YBN Cordae and Entendre), is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of the hip hop collective YBN (collective), YBN. His 2019 debut studio ...

and

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

. NF later announced a 47-stop world tour on March 30, 2023, in support of the album, with the former as a special guest. It is his first studio album in four years since 2019's ''

The Search ''The Search'' is a 1948 American film directed by Fred Zinnemann that tells the story of a young Auschwitz survivor and his mother who search for each other across post-World War II Europe. It stars Montgomery Clift, Ivan Jandl, Jarmila Novot ...

'', and his first project in two years since 2021's '' Clouds (The Mixtape)''.

Promotion

The album was announced on February 16, 2023, along with the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

and second single, and released along with the music video of the track "Happy" on April 7, 2023.

Critical reception

Critic Robin Murray of '' Clash'' wrote, "This is perhaps

F's ''Pa Las Baby's y Belikeada'' is the seventh studio album by American regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida. It was released on October 20, 2023, through Rancho Humilde, Street Mob, and Sony Music Latin. The album follows the band's fifth and sixt ...

most personal document yet, one that dares to deal with self-doubt and worthlessness in the public gaze. While some tracks hit harder than others,... it's a worthy attempt to look beyond the darkness, and embrace the light." Khushboo Rathore from ''

The Diamondback ''The Diamondback'' is an independent student newspaper associated with the University of Maryland, College Park. It began in 1910 as ''The Triangle'' and became known as ''The Diamondback'' in 1921. ''The Diamondback'' was initially published a ...

'' wrote, "As a whole, the album feels a little disorganized, but it's a positive turn on NF's usual content. It feels good to see him growing and becoming happy, and it gives me hope for my own future." An anonymous writer of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a 3.5 star rating, describing the album as "building upon the emotional struggles that informed 2016's ''

Therapy Session ''Therapy Session'' is the second studio album by American rapper NF. It was released on April 22, 2016, by Capitol Christian Music Group. Critical reception Indicating in a four-star review at ''CCM Magazine'', Matt Conner writes, "fortuna ...

'' and 2019's ''

'' with a sense that there is often a light at the end of a dark tunnel."

Commercial performance

''Hope'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 123,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, of which 80,500 were pure album sales. The album, which was blocked from the number one spot by country singer Morgan Wallen's ''

One Thing at a Time ''One Thing at a Time'' is the third studio album by American country music singer Morgan Wallen. It was released on March 3, 2023, through Big Loud, Republic, and Mercury Records. ''One Thing at a Time'' features guest appearances from Eric Chu ...

'', became NF's third top-ten album (and fourth top-ten project overall).

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer. * All tracks are stylized in all caps, such as "Hope" being stylized as "HOPE".

Personnel

* NF – vocals, production * Alex Dobbert – mastering (1–4, 6, 7, 12) *

Mike Bozzi Mike Bozzi is an American mastering engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California. He won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for mastering Childish Gambino's " This Is America", and is a six-time nominee for the Grammy Award fo ...

– mastering (5, 8–11, 13) * Tommee Profitt – mixing (1, 2, 4–9, 11, 12),

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

(1, 2, 4–9, 11, 12) * Jeff Sojka – mixing (1–12), programming (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12) * David Garcia – mixing (10, 13), programming (3, 10, 13),

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(10, 13), keyboards (10, 13), guitar (13) *

– vocals (3) * Cole Walowac (Saint X) – programming (4, 7, 9, 10, 12), keyboards (10) *

– vocals (8)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{NF (rapper) 2023 albums NF (rapper) albums Caroline Records albums Pop-rap albums Emo rap albums