Joy Oladokun has announced her new album, OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM, arriving on October 18th via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records. In anticipation of the project, the singer-songwriter has also released two new songs, “NO COUNTRY” and “I’D MISS THE BIRDS.”
Comprised of 12 songs and three spoken-word interludes, OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM is said to blend Oladokun’s pop-folk roots with electronic and psychedelic influences. It features the previous singles “QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH” and “DRUGS.”
“This album became a way for me to write things, feel things, process things,” Oladokun said in a statement. “Because, 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. I’m listening to an album that I genuinely love. All the sounds and bits and bobs came from me with the help of just an engineer.’ It was transformative. So, it started out as, ‘I quit,’ and it has ended up as a fresh start.”
“NO COUNTRY” sprinkles in some of the aforementioned psychedelic flourishes as Oladokun sings of feeling alienated: “It’s just another stranger living in a foreign land/ With no country, nobody to understand.”
Though it’s a more straightforward, acoustic guitar-driven folk song, “I’D MISS THE BIRDS” features similar themes as she contemplates leaving Nashville: “For all its brand new buildings and its heroes on parade/ This town still isn’t big enough to love me.” Stream both tracks below.
OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM follows last year’s Proof of Life, one of the best albums of 2023. Earlier this year, Oladokun covered Beyoncé’s “II MOST WANTED” from COWBOY CARTER and contributed a rendition of “I Wished on the Moon” to Jack Antonoff’s soundtrack for Apple TV’s The New Look.
Oladokun is slated to make appearances at Sea.Hear.Now Festival and Farm Aid later this month ahead of a string of Australia and New Zealand dates supporting Hozier. See the full schedule below, and get tickets here.
OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM Artwork:
OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM Tracklist:
01. LETTER FROM A BLACKBIRD
02. AM I?
03. OBSERVATION #1
04. STRONG ONES
05. DRUGS
06. QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH
07. NO COUNTRY
08. OBSERVATION #2
09. HOLLYWOOD
10. flowers
11. DUST/DIVINITY
12. GOOD ENOUGH
13. OBSERVATION #3
14. I’D MISS THE BIRDS
15. GOODBYE
Joy Oladokun 2024-2025 Tour Dates:
09/15 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Sea.Hear.Now Festival
09/21 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Farm Aid
09/22 – Richmond, VA @ Iron Blossom Music Festival
09/28 – Johannesburg, ZA @ Marabi Club
10/03 – Cape Town, ZA @ Rocking the Daisies
11/05 – Perth, AU @ RAC Arena *
11/06 – Perth, AU @ RAC Arena *
11/08 – Adelaide, AU @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre *
11/12 – Melbourne, AU @ Sydney Myer Music Bowl *
11/13 – Melbourne, AU @ Sydney Myer Music Bowl *
11/15 – Sydney, AU @ Qudos Bank Arena *
11/18 – Brisbane, AU @ Riverstage Brisbane *
11/20 – Auckland, NZ @ Spark Arena *
11/22 – Christchurch, NZ @ Wolfbrook Arena *
11/23 – Christchurch, NZ @ Wolfbrook Arena *
05/05-07 – Miramar Beach, FL @ Moon Crush: The Sea & Me
* = w/ Hozier