Artist Spotlight: Joey XL

There is a reason why East London’s Joey XL is considered one of the frontrunners in the new soundscape of future R&B. I’ve been a fan since Friday Love and Broken Ones, normally known for his late-night vibe of paintings vivid pictures of love, joy and pain and heartbreak. His smooth sound is something that washes over you and takes you in, making you feel everything that Joey feels. And now the singer is in a transitional period where his direction is changing, experimenting with different influences in his music and topics. However, his relationship with music is intricate beats and emotive language that combines to make the perfect audio experience. 

Some of Joey’s major influences have been Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Brandy and Lauryn Hill and we can hear the influences in the direction his music is taking. Joey sits down with The Pit to talk about his new single Special, his approach to navigating the industry and the message he’s conveying with his art on the soundscape.

 What do you remember about Jamaica?

I remember Duns River falls and I remember being on the back of a truck when my mother was pregnant with my brother.

I know that Special is influenced by Jamaica and the Caribbean. What elements did you take from Jamaican culture?

I just felt like a lot of my music is melancholy and sad, I’m always in my feelings but I have a whole other side to me that people really don’t get to hear. I make so many different types of music and the music that resonates with me the most is dark, sad and moody.

With Special I just thought that I have other songs like these that I can do but I’m very specific with them because there’s a lot of Afrobeat and Afroswing sounds flying around and I wanted to be very particular with this and I wanted you to be able to easily identify the culture.

How did Special come about?

My boy Ryan is a sick producer! He also produced  one of my tunes called To The Bank. He just send me the beat one day saying it was a young yards vibe and I literally recorded the song straightaway. Like no overthinking usually I’d be sitting on my laptop for like eight hours perfecting a whole song but this one was quick! I just caught the vibe

So, you just caught the vibe and ran with it?

Yeah, but that’s rare though.

I know you mentioned that your known for particular style, but your last single ‘perfect timing’ sounds completely different? It’s quite uplifting.

Yeah with perfect timing I remember being in the studio and I feel like a lot of times I got to the studio I’m boxed in. People assume that maybe because I’m black and I sing, yeah let’s make song R&B.

I like R&B but traditional R&B is so boring to me, I like creating very hybrid music in between genres. I remember being in the studio with Gigi and my boy James Essien and I remember just saying let’s right a song about something not about a female. I normally write about females or relationships, but it needs to be something that everyone can live with and resonate over time.

It was more about my upbringing, coming of age and understanding that everything happens on its own terms. We could want things today we could want things tomorrow but unless it’s the perfect time it’s not going to happen and I feel that this is a message that everyone can learn from.

Were you raised in the church? It sort of has the same message and feel of gospel songs.

I was raised in a church up until the age of 13. I wasn’t allowed to listen to circular music, and I definitely feel that is has a major impact on my sound like the melodies or soulfulness of things and even harmonies. So, there’s definitely elements of gospel and church in everything I make. I feel like when you go to specific churches from young certain sounds are implemented in you.

What’s your relationship with music?

It needs love and care, it’s delicate

Can you tell me a bit about your background?

I grew up in East London I started off doing spoken word. I literally tried to find myself when I was younger, at first, I was drumming from when I was five. So that was me getting into music and then I just loved words. So I tried doing spoken word but I didn’t think it was cool and then I realised that I don’t even listen to spoken word.

But I feel in love with words and then time I transitioned into a songwriter. I would literally just write songs and get them played by other people trying to get them to sing them. In 2016 I wrote something and I was sending it round and then I thought you know what? I want to record this and I loved how it sounded.

How important is song writing to you?

Song writing is everything. Melody is also important it’s like the vehicle of song writing that captures people. You can remember a melody in years to come but I feel like song writing is that thing which gets you on board or allows you to call something timeless and even just live with something. You need both obviously.

I feel like delivery is really important

Yeah that’s true. I have had this argument with so many times my mind changes all the time. It all just depends but I think because I come from a place of words and writing before music I feel that words are just beautiful.

I feel that you’re at the stage musically where it’s all about connecting ?

Most definitely, I’m always trying to find ways to magnify my experiences in a way that other people can relate. I want it to be personal but I still want people to feel like they can relate it to their day to day life. There’s a lot of music out there that people make and it’s just about someone’s life and its cool but the music that will sit with and be considered timeless is the music that people can actually be able to relate to certain lyrics.

Even in ten years time I remember certain lyrics back then on certain songs. Music is more than just music to me. It’s more than just sound its life.