Joy Oladokun’s new album “Observations From A Crowded Room” is a one-woman show and a confessional of self-portrait songs by a tormented soul.
Playing all the instruments, crafting her voice in gospel-like choirs and shaping all the melodies, Oladokun’s tour de force turns her unvarnished lyrics into highly engaging songs. Like the spoken word segments, spread through the album, her songwriting is conversational enough that the resentment, pride and hope of the songs are instantly relatable.
Says Oladokun: “as the producer I just had to sit with these songs for so long. It became really healing in a sense of I made this, all the sounds came from me, it was transformative. So it started out as I quit and it has ended up as a fresh start”.
“Observations From a Crowded Room” follows Joy Oladokun’s breakthrough album from last year but is very different in that it’s a more personal, emotional statement and allow us to get that much closer to one of a new breed of singer-songwriters.