Joshua Idehen I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try.
Joshua Idehen's I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. frames grief and hope as communal action, marrying London poetry roots with club-ready house to create an album where consolation often arrives on the dancefloor. Across professional reviews, critics point to the record
The best song works by marrying dancefloor house with intimate personal storytelling, as heard on "You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)".
The best song is the opener, "You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)", because it marries soothing spoken-word with club-adjacent production.
Best for listeners looking for dancefloor uplift and personal storytelling, starting with Mum Does the Washing and Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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Full consensus notes
Joshua Idehen's I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. frames grief and hope as communal action, marrying London poetry roots with club-ready house to create an album where consolation often arrives on the dancefloor. Across professional reviews, critics point to the record's mix of plainspoken storytelling and euphoric uplift as its defining strength, making a persuasive case for whether the record is good by showing how its best songs function as both sermon and celebration.
The critical consensus, reflected in a 75.2/100 score across 5 professional reviews, emphasizes collaborative texture and emotional candour. Reviewers consistently praise “You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)” and “Mum Does the Washing” as standout tracks, noting their blend of tenderness and communal uplift; “Everything Everywhere All At Once” also earns repeated mention for turning private detail into club-sized catharsis. Critics cite themes of resilience, healing, communal vulnerability and the London poetry scene, and many highlight the album's collaborators as central to its appeal.
Where opinions diverge, some critics flag moments of overt didacticism, suggesting a few lyrics lean toward sermonising even as the production keeps the mood buoyant. Overall reviewers agree the collection reads as a career-minded debut that honors lineage and community, offering heart-on-sleeve storytelling that dances. For readers searching for an I know you’re hurting review or wanting to know the best songs on the record, the consensus suggests it is worth hearing for its standout anthems and the way dance becomes catharsis. Dive into the tracklist below for full reviews and deeper context.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Mum Does the Washing
2 mentions
"The standout track, Mum Does the Washing— a viral breakout and his live provocateur"— At The Barrier
Everything Everywhere All At Once
2 mentions
"the recounting of a potential relationship that never quite sparked into life on the elegiac rave up "Everything Everywhere All At Once"— Beats Per Minute
Don't Let It Get You Down
1 mention
"Don’t Let It Get You Down maintains the dancefloor dalliance with classic house propulsion"— At The Barrier
You Wanna Dance or What? channels Streets-esque cheek with sunshine-soaked piano refrains
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)
Interlude - It Won't Always Be Like This
It Always Was
This Is The Place
Interlude - What You Need To Hear (feat. Charlotte Manning)
Could Be Forever
Mum Does the Washing
Don't Let It Get You Down
My Love (feat. Amanda Bergman)
Interlude - How I Found Forgiveness
Brother
Whatever Comes
Choose Yourself
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Everything Everywhere All At Once Reprise
Turn It Around
What Is Redemption
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Joshua Idehen's debut I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. is at its best when it pairs club-ready house with plainspoken heart, so the best tracks on I know you’re hurting are clearly “You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)” and “Mum Does the Washing” - both fuse tenderness and communal uplift in ways that feel indelible. Rob Hakimian's tone here revels in those vivid, bleary-eyed snapshots, praising tunes like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Brother” for turning small personal moments into euphoric, club-sized catharsis. Even when the preaching on “Choose Yourself” feels a touch much, the record's buoyant arrangements keep the mood aloft, making the best songs on the album land as earnest, danceable affirmations.
Key Points
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The best song works by marrying dancefloor house with intimate personal storytelling, as heard on "You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)".
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The album’s core strength is its persistent, earnest uplift: vivid anecdotes and jubilant arrangements that turn vulnerability into communal celebration.
Themes
Critic's Take
In a voice that is at once plaintive and buoyant, Joshua Idehen’s I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. finds its best tracks in moments where poetry meets the club. The opener “You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)” sets the tone with soothing, purgative epiphanies, and “Whatever Comes” becomes the record’s emotional centre, celebrating togetherness and vulnerability. Finlay Harrison hears an album that is raw, joyous and considered, songs you could both rave to and sit with in a church, which is why these tracks emerge as the best songs on the album.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener, "You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)", because it marries soothing spoken-word with club-adjacent production.
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The album’s core strength is converting personal hurt into communal, danceable catharsis backed by lithe production and choral-influenced performance.
Themes
Th
Critic's Take
Joshua Idehen arrives with a debut that reads like a who’s who of UK avant-pop collaboration, and on I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. Joe Muggs frames the record as the culmination of a career spent alongside others, naming collaborations and contexts that make the album feel larger than a solo statement. The critic’s prose is measured and informed, pointing to the London poetry scene and grime’s vernacular as the album’s roots, which helps answer searches for the best tracks on this album by emphasizing its collaborative highlights. Muggs’ voice privileges lineage and partnership over solo heroics, so the best songs are those that read as collective documents of scene and craft. This is a debut judged through the company the artist has kept, and it succeeds because those collaborations are woven throughout the record.
Key Points
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The best songs are celebrated for their collaborative spirit and ties to the London poetry and grime scenes.
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The album’s core strength is its networked, collaborative identity that makes the debut feel like a collective statement.
Themes
Critic's Take
Joshua Idehen arrives on I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. with a preacher’s warmth and a raver’s pulse, where standout moments like “You Wanna Dance Or What? (feat. Tommy McGee)” and “Mum Does the Washing” convert grief into communal relief. The reviewer's voice delights in the record’s barefoot radiance and celebrates the best tracks as part sermon, part party - intimate songs like “My Love (feat. Amanda Bergman)” show his tender side while house burners keep the plea urgent. This debut reads as a coronation, songs doubling as pep-talks and invitations to hold on and dance.
Key Points
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Mum Does the Washing is the best song for its gut-punch storytelling, viral reach, and humane class commentary.
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The album’s core strength is transforming personal pain into communal, dancefloor-based hope and resilience.
Themes
Critic's Take
The review contains no substantive track-by-track commentary to identify the best songs on I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try. Without quoted praise or critique for individual tracks like “It Always Was” or “Brother”, I cannot reproduce the reviewer’s voice or highlight standout songs. Because the full review text is missing, this summary notes the absence of evidence rather than inventing judgments.
Key Points
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No specific track commentary is present to determine a best song.
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The review text is missing, so album strengths cannot be extracted from evidence.