My name is Joya Mooi and these past months I’ve been releasing music, almost entirely created this year under these somewhat different circumstances.
When I started writing for my EP Blossom Carefully, I really felt the need to write more about freedom, escapism and spirituality, themes that have been lingering in my mind, but where I couldn’t find the words for until now. Would love to tell you more about this music so dear to me.
I am really not the best at using my own imagination, although I love exploring new ideas. Prior to the session with producer Sim Fane, I challenged myself to let the music take me to a place I’ve never gone.
It didn’t take long until we created the EP’s title track “Blossom Carefully”, all recorded and produced at my house. I wanted to share how I personally cope with life and how I use nature and spiritually to gain a sense of clarity, or hope even. Because the world can seem so cold.
As for “Bitter Parts”, honestly when Sim Fane and I were working on this song, I really thought it sounded off haha. I guess sometimes honesty just scares a little, because this song is about coming to terms with the less pleasant parts of yourself. Not wanting to see the bitter parts in the ‘mirror’.
For the visuals of this song, the video director literally wanted me to take a closer look at the imperfections and put me in a mirrored set for a day. Due to COVID-19, we couldn’t shoot with a DOP so everything is shot with a 360 camera that was placed above my head.
With “Hold You Tight”, growing up I didn’t see many healthy relationships around me. That’s why I always thought I wasn’t able to have a healthy relationship myself. My whole attitude towards positive things was in fact pretty mistrustful. That’s probably one of the reasons why I hardly write love songs 🙂
But when I first heard the rough draft of the beat, I immediately heard something nostalgic and urgent. Being in a healthy relationship now, I wanted to share some things about self love, desires and breaking my own patterns with an understanding of the patterns of the generations created before me.
“More Than Ever” is inspired by afrofuturism, it captures my gratitude and how I practice serenity. It’s a song about how I connect the day-to-day to a bigger picture and where that intersects with spiritualism and grieve.
This song was also created at my house, where I have a lot of paintings, photos of family members. I try to use that energy or their presence in my music. Because I’ve experienced loss, it means a lot to me that I can carry feelings and stories from late close ones and create space for them.
With how “Good Girl” came about, my producer Blazehoven let me hear the draft of the beat of the song during a session when we were working on something else. But when I came home, this beat was still in my system. I had to write an anthem for it!
So “Good Girl” is my ode to female disobedience. Every girl deserves to be free, bold and confident in any arena, court, estate or place. I was lucky enough to create the video in London with an amazing team featuring, directed and filmed by women.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve felt the violence, the trauma, the injustice in this world. I wanted to share – on a personal level – how surreal these times are, and that’s what “Hours Left” is all about.
It’s frustrating to say the least, and I needed to let it all out. The amazing producers Blazehoven and SIROJ really elevated what I sought out for this song. I think it’s the perfect ending to this new chapter of mine.
Listen to my Blossom Carefully EP below!!!
