Joy Crookes today shares the video for her new single ‘19th Floor’, taken from her debut album Skin, which was released in October via Insanity Records to critical acclaim and landed at number 5 in the UK Official Charts, cementing her place as one of the most exciting breakthrough talents the UK has to offer.
Skin includes the tracks ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’, title track ‘Skin’, ‘When You Were Mine’ and new single ‘Trouble’, as well as new single ‘19th Floor’, which is inspired by Joy’s grandmother who lives on the 19th floor of a tower block in Stockwell, and whose voice features on the track.
Speaking about the vid, directed by Ebeneza Blanche (Jae5 & Skepta, Little Simz), Joy says “I loved working with Ebenezer on this video. We wanted to create visuals that were reflective of the complexity and beauty of community, especially the immigrant community within London. The song is a recognition of all the obstacles immigrants have to overcome to build a life in somewhere like the UK, an acknowledgment of the journey that my Grandmother for example had to face to get to the 19th floor of a South London tower block and the heights that she has managed to reach.”
The video is released today ahead of next week’s BRIT Awards, where Joy is nominated for two awards: Best New Artist and Best Pop/R&B Artist. This week saw Joy play a sold out underplay show at Omeara in London in celebration of the BRITs, in association with War Child. This was her first UK gig following her run of dates back in November, which included two sold out nights at O2 Forum Kentish Town. More recently, Joy visited the US, where she performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Late Show with James Corden; back on this side of the pond, she also delighted fans on New Year’s Eve by joining Ed Sheeran onstage during Jools Holland’s Hootenanny.
With Joy credited as an executive producer on the album, alongside the formidable Blue May (Kano, Blood Orange), Skin is a hugely personal, gamechanging body of work from one of the UK’s boldest and brightest young talents. A collection of songs built and honed throughout her adolescence and into her early twenties, and finessed last year within the most turbulent of circumstances, Skin touches on topics such as mental health, relationships, and politics all with grace and sensitivity. Joy has created what can only be described as a truly special body of work that is both perfectly of the moment, and entirely timeless. Skin’s album artwork is shot by Carlota Guerrero, who has previously worked with Arca, Chloe x Halle, and Solange for all of her imagery for A Seat At The Table.
Skin tracklist
I Don’t Mind
19th Floor
Poison
Trouble
When You Were Mine
To Lose Someone
Unlearn You
Kingdom
Feet Don’t Fail Me Now
Wild Jasmine
Skin
Power
Theek Ache
A proud South Londoner of Bangladesh and Irish heritage, Joy Crookes is a singer-songwriter, a masterful instrumentalist, a Brit nominated rising star, and an artist who sees herself as part of a beautiful eco system of storytellers, mavericks, and salt of the earth Londoners. Her unique approach to storytelling within her songs, partnered with her infectious charisma has seen her become a treasured and trusted new voice both musically and across her social media. Joy uses her creativity as a tool to understand her own identity, her place in the world and her relationships within it.
At just 22, she has acquired the most fiercely of loyal fanbases, notching streams into the hundreds of millions and has cemented herself as an important, influential part of new British music. After being nominated for the Brits Rising Star award as well as placing fourth on the BBC Sound Poll, Joy went on to become the most widely tipped artist of 2020 and sold out her debut UK tour in a matter of hours. She was due to support Harry Styles at The O2 in London pre-pandemic, and has played Glastonbury, BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Later… With Jools Holland, and her own sold out shows across the UK and Europe.
