The Power of Women in Music: Joy Crookes

By Antonella Badchkam

Joy Crookes is a young English artist born in South London, (precisely in the Elephant & Castle area), from a Bengali mother and an Irish father. Joy's dual identity is at the center of her artistic ability and what drives her music, and completes her as a person. The Irish influence draws inspiration from famous writers like: Van Morrison and Oscar Wilde, while the Indian influence inspired the jazz side of her unique style.

Joy began writing songs very young, at the tender age of 12. Now twenty-two years old, she has already enchanted lots of fans with her insolent and fearless way of writing and composing, much ahead of her age, while remaining very humble and affirming her desire to always learn and improve to become an author more experienced.

Many people have already compared her to other great artists such as Lauryn Hill and the late Amy Winehouse, another great British talent, who left us too early, but she also intrigues with her personal, slightly retro but playful style.

Joy, is undoubtedly one of the most interesting artists to emerge in the British nu-soul music scene, in recent years. Her voice, delicate yet hoarse at the same time, blends perfectly with her sophisticated and soulful style, adding sounds of melodic guitars, vigorous wind instruments, excerpts from the piano and intriguing trip-hop percussion, which find a perfect place. in her engaging sound. What also makes Joy interesting is her attitude and confidence which she reveals through her writing style. 

The artist has released three EPs since the beginning of her career, "Influence", "Reminiscence" and "Perspective",  to date, and many important singles. Her music is very personal and introspective, Joy tells us the relevant things in her life.

At 18, Joy Crookes writes "Power" gifting us with an important piece with a strong message for women of all ages and cultural backgrounds, Power is a song about the abuse of power, dedicated to people who feel helpless. This song urges them to take control of the situation, which sometimes could make them feel powerless, especially for women, who are often victims of the various misogynistic power games and abuses that occur in all cultures. In this song, Crookes introduces us to some of the power figures in her life like her mother and grandmother who managed to channel and pass on their essential and positives qualities to her, such as strength and integrity. Crookes' mother and grandmother are featured in the video along with some of her closest friends who appear with their own mothers or sisters.

Deciding to highlight her family and closest friends in the video is a strong display of affection; Joy Crookes shows us, where using her own personal strength, she encourages us to find power in the people we aspire to the most.

In 2019 with the song "Since I left You" the artist shows her most vulnerable side, where she talks about the breakup of a relationship, that lasted since teenagers years, the wonderful video shot in Bangladesh, her mother's hometown, shows a Joy surrounded by the extraordinary colours of that land, that are a big contrast with the sad emotions she was experiencing at that particular time. In this song, she admits that a woman's freedom doesn't come without a price, and sometimes putting yourself first can be something that hurts, and it's hard to pursue.

In 2020 Joy publishes “Anyone But Me”, a creative interpolation of “Love Me Or Leave Me” cult piece of the legend Nina Simone. Battling her inner demons, Joy's voice despairs to achieve a peace of mind, navigating verses, loaded with pain and courage. Her ability to be vulnerable and innocent works very well with the "bluesy" production. It happens rarely, that artists open up so clearly about their mental health. This song is influenced by the artist's personal struggle against her mental demons. It's an encouragement to others who are going through the same problems, to open up and talk about their suffering.

This unique and amazing music is enough to make us fall in love with this young artist, who, with her few years, already proved to be a mature and self-confident woman, despite the various contradictions in living in a large metropolis. Surely, growing up with the great blessing of having two cultures in her family baggage, have made her even more aware of her great resource of being a woman and of how to extricate herself in everyday life.

Protect the loved ones, and the positive relationships that help us grow and always be ourselves, but also accept the negative and bad situations that are part of our inner growth every day, can definitely help us to improve and  flourish further. 

Now we are waiting for Joy's first album, which will undoubtedly be another hymn to women from all over the world, not with the usual "girl power" style songs, that can sometimes be a bit obvious, apathetic and cold in their celebration. of independence, but with true stories, of real women, who find themselves living their everyday struggle against a difficult  tough world.