Headie One first teased Edna to release on August 18, 2020.[5][6] On September 24, 2020, Headie One appeared in an interview with 16BARS and spoke about the album and the meaning behind the title, Edna.
My mum's name is Edna. Obviously when I was younger, I was like 3-years old, my mum passed away, init. So I grew up like, it was just me, my pops and my sister, that was my household. You know what I'm tryna' say? So, I felt like I ain't really had nothing to give since this music stuff so I felt like if I was gonna' do my debut album, it's only right I named it after her.[7]
The album's lead single, "Only You Freestyle" was released on July 20, 2020, with Drake.[11][12][13] The album's seconds single, "Ain't It Different" was released on August 19, 2020, with AJ Tracey and Stormzy.[14][15][16] The album's third single, "Breathing" was released on October 5, 2020.[17][18][19] The album's fourth and final single, "Princess Cuts" was released on October 8, 2020, with Young T & Bugsey, just a day prior to the release of the entire album.[20][21]
Edna was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87 based on five reviews.[23] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.9 out of 10, based on seven reviews.[22]
Writing for AllMusic, David Crone stated introspection comes to light on Edna for the first time in Headie One's career and that the project "is a reflection of both life and career, paying homage to his diverse sonic palette while offering lyrical insight into his journey here". He also stated that, "sonically, Edna is set out like a banquet of the rapper's works, tapping styles across the scene for a comprehensive representation of his career" and that it is "the sound of its mastery: pulling out all the stops for an expansive statement of self, the Tottenham native provides his most compelling set yet."[24]The Arts Desk's Joe Muggs wrote that the album "sounds like a million pounds: absorbing dancehall, Afro-swing and more styles besides, British rap is now as confident in itself sonically as Headie is lyrically". He wrote that "in many parts [the album's] grim, cold and violent" but "there’s a lot you can learn about this country from hearing that grimness expressed with such determined intelligence."[25] Writing for Clash, Robert Kazandjian stated that "the twenty-track project, dedicated to his late mother, features Headie’s strongest, most reflective writing to date" and that "distance offers clarity, and the further he navigates away from his past life, the more vivid the pictures he paints of it". He noted that "the true power of the album lies in Headies's introspection, when he’s alone with the beat and his thoughts".[26]
The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick wrote that "despite its focus on crime and punishment and prodigious use of gangland slang, Edna proves far more thoughtful than the genre’s reputation might lead listeners to expect", however, if you "strip away the lyrics, and the strange mix of electro loops, nervous beats, sad melodies and sci-fi sounds is utterly compelling and contemporary, evidence of a cutting edge local music scene that continues to thrive even with venue doors barred shut".[27] Writing for The Line of Best Fit, Steven Loftin stated that "Edna isn’t made to be an easy listen, it’s made to be a truthful one" and described how the album is "a portrayal of Headies's world up to this moment, and just what he wants to take forward from the rest of it". He noted that "it’s an evolution, not quite a revolution", concluding his review as he noted that "You can’t expect change to come without the past tagging along, reminding you of what waits if a different hand is dealt that changes your path".[28]Loud and Quiet's Max Pilley began his review by writing that throughout the project, Headie "weaves a tale of self-examination and personal growth, using his own life to assemble a fable that hinges on an individual’s capacity to overcome". Pilley makes it clear that the "echoey production dominates" the project, but "Headie also pushes out beyond the drill boundaries".[29] Writing for NME, Caitlin O'Reily compares Edna to Headie'ss fourth mixtape, Music x Road, stating that "Edna is its grown-up, lavish cousin". She states that the "album is washed in the melancholy, minor-key trap beats requisite of in-vogue modern hip-hop". Concluding the review, O'Reily notes that the album "is proof that he's the unmistakeable, global "King of drill", and much more besides".[30]
Writing for The Observer, Kitty Empire noted that the album "travels a significant distance from his previous fast-paced accounts of life on the streets" and that it "is forced into a dance, of sorts, with Adjei's past". Concluding her review, she states that "Headie One gets to flex, collaborate and try new things, while Irving Adjei feels safe enough to show vulnerability".[31]The Times' Will Hodgkinson states that on the album, "[Headie] captures the dull reality of prison life" and "makes drug dealing sound as appealing as root canal work and wonders if things might have been different had his mother".[32]
The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 15,494 copies in its first week[40] and earning a total of 25.5 million on-demand streams of the album's songs during that week.[41] It also charted in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Scotland.
