How Were We to Know

How Were We to Know is the fifth studio album by Scottish singer Emeli Sandé. It was released by Chrysalis Records on 17 November 2023. Daily Mail editor Adrian Thrills found that "after releasing two underwhelming albums that lacked her old immediacy in 2016 and 2019, got back on track, sans quiff, on last year's Let's Say for Instance, and she's at her best again on How Were We to Know." The Scotsman critic Fiona Shepherd noted that How Were We to Know "features more general musings on the nature of love and heartbreak, delivered with her usual MOR lyrical wisdom, all just vague enough to apply universally." Ed Power from i noted that "there are moments on her latest album when she feels ready to take on the world. But epic emotions demand epic music. How Were We to Know misses its chance and too often settles for energy-sapping power balladry."