Joy Oladokun

Joy Oladokun

Joy Oladokun is an American singer-songwriter from Casa Grande, Arizona. Her work spans folk, R&B, rock and pop, and she is associated with acoustic, indie, pop and indie pop. Her songs are shaped in part by her identity as a queer woman of colour.

Early life and background

Oladokun is born in 1992 and grows up in a rural community in Arizona. Both of her parents are Nigerian immigrants to the United States. As a child, she begins playing guitar at the age of ten. Her family attends a Christian church regularly, and she is chosen to lead worship there before later leaving because she feels the environment limits her creativity.

Career

After college, Oladokun initially works a job and plans to settle into it, but a conversation with a friend leads her to consider writing songs and travelling instead. She relocates to Los Angeles, where she first works as a backing vocalist while developing her own material and playing occasional solo shows.

She cites Tracy Chapman, Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley and 1970s singer-songwriters among her influences. She writes songs initially for family and friends and sometimes gives them new songs as gifts, rather than intending music as a career.

Recordings and albums

In April 2015, Oladokun releases the solo acoustic EP Cathedrals and starts a crowdfunding campaign to finance a full-length album. The campaign raises more than her target, and Carry follows in April 2016 with backing from a full band. The album helps broaden her audience, and she tours in the United States and the United Kingdom after its release.

She continues with a series of singles, including “Memphis” in 2016, “No Turning Back” in 2017 and “Sober” in 2018. In 2019 she releases “Sunday”, which addresses being queer, happy, healthy and holy. During the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, she releases “Who Do I Turn To?”, co-written with Natalie Hemby. That year she also releases “Mercy”, which reflects on her experience as a Black person in the United States, and “I See America”, which critiques systemic racism. NPR includes “I See America” in its list of the 100 Best Songs of 2020.

Her second studio album, In Defense of My Own Happiness (The Beginnings), is released in 2020 on White Boy Records. In 2021, she receives a grant from YouTube’s #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund and signs with Amigo Records, Verve Forecast Records and Republic Records. She then releases her third studio album, In Defense of My Own Happiness. Her fourth studio album, Proof of Life, appears in 2023 and includes collaborations with Mt. Joy on “Friends”, Manchester Orchestra on “You At The Table”, Maxo Kream on “Revolution”, Chris Stapleton on “Sweet Symphony” and Noah Kahan on “We’re All Gonna Die”. The album is introduced with “Changes” and later “We’re All Gonna Die”. Her fifth studio album, Observations From A Crowded Room, is released in 2024.