LOS ANGELES – Samara Joy’s voice resonates with an enchanting allure, transporting listeners back to the golden era of jazz, evoking the timeless charm of icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
At just 25, Samara Joy has already claimed five Grammy Awards, making significant waves in the music industry. Her album “Linger Awhile” garnered her the prestigious titles of Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2023. Celebrated personalities such as Chaka Khan, Regina King, and Quincy Jones have lauded her talent. Furthermore, she has captivated a younger audience on TikTok, bridging the gap between generations by introducing jazz to her Gen-Z followers.
In a defining moment last year, Joy released her third studio album, “Portrait.” This deeply personal collection invites listeners into the complex emotions of exhilaration and overwhelm that accompany rapid success. Her first original track, “Peace of Mind,” perfectly encapsulates this transitional period in her career.
Reflecting on the creation of the song, Joy shared, “I wrote it during a time when I was questioning my ability to continue because of exhaustion. Through the Sun Ra composition, I reminded myself that I’ve experienced something wonderful, and this is just the beginning. It’s a springboard for all my future creative endeavors.”
The release of “Portrait” marked a pivotal moment for Joy, challenging her creatively and encouraging her to trust her artistic intuition.
“This album taught me much about my capabilities and reinforced the importance of standing firm in my creative vision and the path I see for myself,” she explained.
Joy sat down with The Associated Press to talk about life post-Grammy wins, how diving into “Portrait” helped her grow as an artist and what it means to make her mark on the classic genre.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: How does it feel to look back on “Portrait” and how have you grown from that moment into the new projects that you’re working on?
JOY: This album was a turning point. Because I feel like it was the first time I really had to make a decision about what my path was going to be. With the first two albums, it was just songs that I loved and felt like I could interpret as my own. And this album, “Portrait,” was the first time I felt like I took the reins of creative direction and band mates and songs. And honestly kind of opened up even more to my band mates and said, arrange. I want you guys to orchestrate this next era.
So, it was definitely a big leap, I think, from maybe what people thought I should do after the second album after the best new artist. And I think this album taught me the importance of patience and not rushing to stay relevant or spark up a moment or just stay in that moment. It taught me to just take my time and really wait until you have something you feel like you have to say.
AP: I want to go back to that moment of winning best new artist. Talk to me about that moment and kind of having this surreal moment of “Oh wow, I’m being celebrated by my idols and by people that I’ve looked up to for years.”
JOY: I never expected to be nominated. I never thought that that was a possibility, at least so early on in my career.
Even thinking about it now, I can see everybody still and still feel the way that I felt that night. It’s a night that I will never ever forget. And I’m thankful. I’m really thankful to everybody who believed in me enough to allow me to have that moment, who voted, who listened to my music, who support me then and still support me now. Which is why I never want to lose sight of what I do this for.
AP: You’ve been praised by Chaka Khan, by Regina King. Was there any one specific person that once you connected with them, they shared something about your music that influenced the way that you looked at yourself and your own approach?
JOY: A couple years ago I did the Hollywood Bowl and it was a birthday celebration for Quincy Jones — Patty Austin, I got the chance to sing alongside of her. And backstage, you know, she was funny and sharp and quick, but she was just very supportive and very honest. And that meant a lot to me from somebody who has been in the industry for as long as she has and collaborated with Quincy Jones and George Benson and James Ingram and all these people to be so encouraging on this new journey as I kind of embark on it.”
AP: Does it feel like an act of reclamation and resistance being a Black woman in jazz who is at the top who is making it in the mainstream and bringing the genre back to a new generation?
JOY: I guess I never thought about it that way. There are so many wonderful artists that I draw inspiration from — Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington through the course of their lives contributed to the changing to the evolution of the music that we call jazz. I know that there’s always gonna be a certain sense of nostalgia and a certain artist or song that people can connect to or relate to easily because jazz is not mainstream, at least to me, I don’t think unless it is really, really, really, really watered down, I don’t think it will be.
But it’s an opportunity for me to once again be authentic and show people like, “Have you ever heard of this Abby Lincoln song?” Or maybe this Thelonious Monk song doesn’t have lyrics, but I can put lyrics to them and share a different, you know, a different compositional style. And a different voice in jazz. And so I guess that’s my way of reclaiming it and educating in a way and just introducing people to the sound that they may not recognize at first, but good music is good music.
AP: You get compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. What does that mean to you?
JOY: I feel very honored and sometimes undeserving because of how new my relationship to their music was initially. I hadn’t really listened to their music or their voices at all growing up and getting introduced to them in college, it just felt like another world had opened up and I felt like I wanna sing, I wanna be able to move people the way that they move me with their voices.
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