RELOAD IT! Joy Crooke's new EP, 'Perception'

June 2019

As seen on Sicka Vision: https://sickavision.co.uk/2019/06/18/joy-crookes-perception-ep/

After over 7 million views on the YouTube music platform ‘Colors’ with ‘Mother May I Sleep With Danger?’, the 20 year old, up and coming songstress, Joy Crookes has dominated my Spotify playlist with her new EP, Perception.

Hints of Joy’s eclectic musical taste can be found across the EP which covers multiple genres, from R’n’B and Jazz to Rap and Grime. For example, in ‘No Hands’, Joy takes the jazzy, soulful route to explain how to maintain independence in a relationship, whereas, ‘Hurts’, which was performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend, has tones of the grime genre.

A personal favourite has to be ‘London Mine’, which was written during the Windrush scandal. Joy responds to the treatment of immigrants and counteracts their negative stereotypes, celebrating London’s multiculturalism: “Bangla noise on brick lane/ That’s the sound of my home/ Ay Mami Que Haces?”.

Joy presents her faithfulness to the city in the line, “I’m never gonna give you up”, which is supported by her passionate vocals and raw, refreshing London accent.

Joy’s vocal comparison to Amy Winehouse is clear in ‘Since I Left You’. The song takes a hopeless romantic tone, like much of Winehouse’s music, and expresses the tragedy, rather than a celebration, of love. Not only does Joy show intense emotion in the music video for ‘Since I Left You’, she also embraces her Bengali culture.

The video's director, Leonn Ward, who specialises in capturing vibrant intimacy, puts Joy’s individual style first with flamboyant colours which actively contrast with the melancholic mood of the overall video.

Screenshot from the 'Since I Left You' video. Photo Cred: YouTube

Joy reflects upon highs and lows of life, how to handle these, and her supportive traits in ‘Darkest Hour’. Speaking with ‘gal-dem’ magazine, Joy describes herself as a “huge advocate of therapy, doing things for other people”, embodying the songs shoulder-to-cry-on message: “You call me and I'll be round”.

Following Reminiscence and Influence, Joy’s 3rd EP has, once again, showcased her prowess and potential. Believing a single label can’t handle her multi-genre sound exploration, Joy remains independently focused on topping the success of Perception with the next EP.

Listen to Perception here