Joy Jones - Godchild album review

Joy Jones - Godchild

Future Soul Records

By: Jabari Oliver

Joy Jones is a Godchild. Joy Jones is the immaculate soulstress singer you’ve never heard of. Her surrealist soul and intergalactic grooves are organic for a sensational music experience. Her nomadic adventures throughout her journeys have brought us combustions of worldly sounds, postmodern funk, and folk story-telling. Joy Jones was born in east L.A. and raised by Caribbean-American parents. As a child she always tuned into worlds near and far. She attended Duke University where she studied biology and cultural anthropology. Upon completion of Duke she moved to the United Kingdom where she attended the University of London where she studied medical anthropology by day and the local art scene by night. While in Europe she performed in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There she saw that her talents began to become the favorites of others. She traveled the world, ambitious to share her knowledge and talents. Once she was back in L.A., she began to do shows. One in particular, was her one-woman-show, The Nappy Goddess Complex. It received rave reviews and ran for 4 weeks at the Hudson Theater. Joy also became very active in the underground L.A. spoken word movement. Hints of her love for poetry can be witnessed on Godchild. Joy Jones’ Godchild meshes the instants of neo-soul, gospel, R&B, African choral music, soca, and jazz together to make a beautiful body of work. She shows similarities to Erykah Badu on “Glass Boxes” and “Nomad” with “Nomad” being her strongest song on Godchild. She shines outside of Erykah Budu when she inserts her African choral singing ability and heavy, rich vocal delivery on songs such as “Right Now,” “Beautiful,” and “The Joy.” Joy Jones brings the T-Pain effect to neo-soul when she experiments with adding tones to her voice on “Over” where she searches for the answer of how to get over a passed love. On “This Too” she mixes R&B with gospel as she tells her people “Everything is gone be alright” almost revisiting the styles famed singer D’Angelo brought in the mid-nineties. Overall Godchild is beautiful album that can be placed on repeat anytime of the day. Joy Jones is truly a Godchild with being blessed with talents such as hers. Let there be Joy!

Listen to “The Joy”:

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Also check out her “Nomad” song:

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