The Joy Release Their Self-Titled Debut Album
Fresh off the back of their recent appearance at this year’s Coachella Festival where they joined Doja Cat on the main stage to open her headline performances on both weekends, South African 5-piece vocal group The Joy have today released their self-titled debut album on Transgressive Records.
Recorded live during one live take, the album showcases the astounding natural vocal ability of the 5 group members – Pastor (Ntokozo Bright Magcaba), Duzie (Melokuhle Mkhungo), Guduza (Sphelele Hlophe), Sthombe (Phelelani Sithole) and Marcus (Sanele Ngcobo) – who have been together since meeting at school, and it was their astonishing talent which led Doja Cat to hand select them as her guest at Coachella.
And following the Coachella performance, Doja Cat also released all three tracks featuring The Joy on DSPs as part of an expansive digital album, Scarlet 2 CLAUDE. The band provided lead vocals alongside the US rapper on recent single ‘ACKNOWLEDGE ME’, ‘DISRESPECTFUL’ and ‘Shutcho’, all of which were re-imagined incorporating lyrics in Zulu. Footage of the performance can be viewed HERE and read more about it at The Guardian (5*) and Billboard.
Additionally, the band are set to appear at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London on 19 September 2024 with Johnny Flynn & The River Band as part of the Transgressive 20th anniversary run of shows.
The Joy Tracklist and Song Description:
1. Uhlenge – this was just a song when we were asking to be protected in the event that we are attacked spiritually.
2. Amaqatha Amancane – Amaqatha Amancane came from a very relaxed setting when we were sitting eating meat at a shisanyama. One of my people working there was cutting the meat and cut very small pieces. One of us asked him “why are you cutting such small pieces as though you bought the meat”.
3. Mama ka Nomthandazo – This song is about a girl who is in love, but comes from a strict family that doesn’t allow her to leave the house. So we are basically singing and asking the mother of the girl to let her leave the house. This is just a song that we sang, and not necessarily related to, and it goes great with some of the dance moves that we incorporate during performance.
4. Bayang’khethela – parents tend to choose who a man should marry. So in this song, we have seen it happen before but we sang this in contrary belief to that. A person should marry who they want. After all, the heart wants what it wants.
5. Mama uleli Kanjani – this is just a song, nothing that we relate to. However, we are sympathising and empathising with the general public that have lost their loved ones. We do not know what happens after death, and we often wonder if our loved ones are okay wherever they are. This song gives hope that we will one day, hopefully, meet again.
6. Ngiphuphe Ngilele – this is just a song that we sang randomly. One of our group members usually makes jokes. He made a joke about sleeping at night and hearing something knocking at the door. This was just a joke but actually turned out into a song, similarly to Amaqatha Amancane.
The Joy
7. Mashaya Kancane – we grew up in an environment whereby you are made to fight amongst one another, but when that happens, there are some that run away. We grew up seeing these things happening around us, and not neccessarily that we have experienced it before. So based on this reality, this song came to life.
8. uBaba Uthwelekanzima – we looked at our background and that of the general public. Usually, everything lies in the hands of the fathers in every household. Despite how difficult a situation is, a father has to provide for his family. So in this song, we were inspired by the fact that fathers try very hard to make sure there is food on the table, and if all fails, we eat whatever there is.
9. You Complete Me – we once heard this song before. We remixed it a bit to form our own thing. The lyrics exist already but we sang the song in The Joy way.
10. Amandla ka Moya – this was inspired by the power of God that took us from the bottom and keeps elevating us every day. We are not where we are today by our power nor might, but by the grace of God. We are not where we want to be, but we are definitely not where we used to be and for that, we are really grateful.
Connect with The Joy online for more on their debut offering and stream or download their self-titled album today: https://thejoy.ffm.to/the-joy