The post INTERVIEW: Joy Oladokun Launches ‘Light on Radio’ appeared first on off the record.

Tracks Releasing On 25^th November:

JP Saxe – “River”

Angus & Julia Stone – “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

Danna Paola – “Last Christmas”

Omah Lay – “Winter Wonderland/Don’t Worry Be Happy”

Urakami Souki – “White Christmas”

Zivert Feat. LYRIQ – “Kaby ne bulo zimy”

Tia Ray – “Grown Up Christmas List”

Esther Graf – “Merry Christmas Everyone”
Barbara Pravi – “Ave Maria”

Wolf Alice On Putting A Modern Slant On “The Bleak Midwinter”…

“It’s a really beautiful, haunting melody that all four of us enjoy and all four of us thought we could interpret in our own way, and spoke to us in that sense. It’s not maybe the first thing that people think of when you think of a carol. It’s quite pastoral and quite English in a way, which is quite nice. I think we’ve ‘Wolf Alic-ed’ the hymn basically.”

Griff On The Nostalgia Around “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful”…

“I grew up in church, so as fun as all the other Christmas songs are, I think it’s important to bring it back to what Christmas has always meant for me. I think the melodies in these kinds of old traditional songs are so beautiful, and they’re made to be sung by lots of people. So I didn’t want to over-complicate it too much. “

Dermot Kennedy On What “Driving Home For Christmas” Means To Him…
I chose to cover “Driving Home for Christmas” because it’s always been my favourite Christmas song. I think I feel an extra attachment to it now because I’m always away from home. Christmas is the time that I just know I’m going to be home and I can always count on that. I’m always looking forward to that, and so this song kind of has an extra meaning for me in recent years. It just felt like the perfect choice.”

Ari Lennox On Why She Covered “My Favourite Things” …

“I really love the movie Sound of Music. The original version of this song really spoke to me because Julie Andrews is a phenomenal, beautiful singer. Her tone is crazy, and I just wanted to do my own version.”

Eden Prince On Why He Loves “Last Christmas”…

“The original version of this song is such a classic, but I’ve always seen it as quite a sad love song. So I wanted to try portraying it in a way that reflects that sadness. As a dance music producer, my vision for this cover was to create something that was upbeat, but melancholic and quite reflective musically, bringing out what I love about the original and presenting it in a slightly different way.”

Eslabon Armado On Why He Loves “Navidad Sin Ti”…

“It’s a good regional Mexican song for a Christmas type vibe and I used to listen to it every day on the radio when I was small. The original version, it’s very vibe-y. It has different instruments that you don’t really see or use today, nowadays. And it’s very original, and the voices are clean.”

Gabby Barrett On “Silent Night” Being One Of Her All-Time Favourite Christmas Songs…

“I think it is so beautifully lyrically written, a song that talks about a calm, silent night, and expressing the wonders of a new-born child, our Lord being born. And so I think it’s just beautiful in every way, and I’m excited to have everybody hear it.”

IDK On What “Coal” Means To Him…

For me, this song was made about three years ago, and originally, it was going to be on my album, “Is He Real?” but I never ended up putting it on there… But I always wanted to release it as a holiday record. I never really had the opportunity, so me putting this together was my depiction of what I would call a “Black Christmas” in a Black household where things may not seem, well, may not be as perfect as they may seem in other households. It’s my reality of comparing what was taught and shown to me through TV and all these other things about Christmas and what my reality of Christmas was. This original version really strikes a nerve for me and speaks to my artistry because I’m actually telling this story that’s somewhat fun, funny at times, but very much real, and that goes to who I am and what I stand for and what my name even stands for, which is Ignorantly Delivering Knowledge.

Jay Wheeler On Why He Picked “Me Voy A Regalar”…

“It’s a classic I’ve been listening to every Christmas in Puerto Rico since I was a little kid. Also, Marc Anthony is one of my  favourite artists. The original song really touches me. Although they are different genres, I think it is a very beautiful song, it goes along the same lines, with a lot of feeling, and my singing is all about love and feeling.”

Joy Oladokun On Covering “Jingle Bells”…

“It’s a cool representative of Christmas time that doesn’t necessarily have any religious or spiritual undertones. It’s literally just about the sounds and the vibe of the season. Christmas is a time consistently where even if life is hard, there’s still this sense of unity and goodwill in the air.”

Karen Harding On “Last Christmas” Being One Of Her Favourite Christmas Songs…

“It’s the way that it chugs along, and it has the bells in the background. And obviously, I absolutely adore George Michael. He’s a big inspiration on my music. So, yeah. I love this song, and I hope that you like the version that we did.”

Shenseea On Why She Loves “Hallelujah”…

“What strikes me from the original version is that, to me, it’s a prayer. I’m always praying and I’m always giving praises. I thank God every single day. I give gratitude. I acknowledge Jesus just for blessing me with the voice that I have. Each stanza is making a confession or telling a story or a testimony.”

Sofi Tukker On What Makes “What A Wonderful World” A Perfect Song…

“Louis Armstrong is a genius. He sings it so beautifully. I think it’s important to always remind ourselves that there are beautiful things in the world, and it is a beautiful world, even in times that are very difficult. We have always strived to be a very positive band in terms of the messaging that we have in our music, but it is really difficult to write lyrics that are both positive and not cliché. And I think this song is the perfect example of a song that just rides that line just perfectly and it’s not cliché. It’s just wonderful.”

Tai Verdes On What Memories “This Christmas” Brings For Him…

“The Donnie Hathaway version is what I would listen to transport myself into the mood of Christmastime every single time that I wanted to be in that mood. This song brings up the holiday memory of me opening my first present, not even opening the first present, just seeing the presents under the tree. Sometimes, there were more, sometimes there were less, but it was always excitement when I saw those presents.”

Tasha Cobbs Leonard On “The First Noel”….

“This song kind of brings up a holiday memory. When I was younger, my aunt would take a group of kids from our church. So it was our youth ministry, honestly. And we would go carolling from house to house. You don’t see that that often now, but this kind of takes me back to that memory of carolling from house to house.”

Tate Mcrae On The Nostalgia That “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” Brings…

“This song reminds me of warmth and movies and everything I love about the holidays, being with your friends and family. And I wanted to try and recreate that with my own rendition. I feel like I couldn’t recreate a classic Christmas song. I just wanted to put my own spin on it.”

Tauren Wells On His Version Of “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”….

“I love the groove of the song. You can tell that the guys in NSYNC were just having a lot of fun with it. But we slowed it down in my version a little bit, changed the pocket up a little bit, so you really feel a groove to it. I love music that has that pocket, that groove and rhythm to it that just gets you moving, gets your head bobbing, and really gets you in the feeling for the season.”

The post Apple Music Announces ‘Carols Covered’ appeared first on off the record.

 

Joy Oladokun on what this time in her career feels like

 

“I feel in my career and life honestly, just that way you feel a little bit after a plane has taken off, like you’re not quite reached cruising altitude and your body is sort of adjusting to being… That’s how I feel about my life of career right now. But honestly I think that when I got into music, it really was I just wanted to make songs that helped me and helped the small network of people that were listening and to be in a space for it like, I don’t know, I was on the newspaper if you asked me. I got to play Fallon and little things are happening where I’m like, I’m sort of acclimating and hopefully that will only escalate. And so I’m just trying to, I don’t know, get ready for the ride.”

Joy Oladokun on writing “Bigger Man” with Maren Morris

 

“It was really amazing to go into a room of really accomplished writers and have them treat your ideas as equal because that does not always happen. And so we were kicking ideas around the room and I had been meditating on the idea of being with the Bigger Man for a while. I just, I don’t know. I thought it was cool because I’m a lady, she’s a lady and we could write a song. It’s just so juvenile, it’s like, what if… And I just like, I don’t know. I think it’s an ancient feeling for people who have had to fight and work harder, who have to behave better than people who have had an easier time. It just like, it was so easy and powerful and I had a great time making it and I’m honored that she was willing to sing on it.”

Joy Oladokun on how she came up with the album title for in defense of my own happiness

 

“I think I experienced it as I was coming to terms with my queerness and just like I had to also convince myself that I am okay and that this is okay and that I will be okay and then I can be okay. And then there’s the external level of sometimes people have opinions. Even when you are happy and when you are healthy and when you are okay and it’s this tension of how do you let some of those opinions and narratives go? And how do you stand in your health and in your wholeness? And just say, “This is the life I’ve chosen, I back it, I stand behind it.”And the hope is that through me living this life authentically, just to blessing and love and peace of that ripple effect. I hope that there’s some little queer girl who plays folk songs in Arizona and watches too much Star Wars, she like sees me post pictures of me and my camper with my girlfriend. And she’s like, ‘Okay, I can do it. I can do it. I can exist.’”

 

“But I think that I didn’t grow up with a lot of role models that look like me or made music like me. And so I think the album, the cover, the whole… It was like ‘this is what it is.’ I’m defending these genres, my queerness, my spirituality, my humanity, everything.”

Joy Oladokun on how hope plays a role in her craft

 

“Sometimes hope is sort of looking at what you have around you and what you have in your hands and saying, ‘I can do something with this.’ It was the first time I had ever heard it put that way and I think it so accurately describes hope as it plays into my work. Because it’s not necessarily me saying, ‘Everything’s going to be okay someday’ or ‘as long as I get this feeling out onto paper, you’ll be fine.’ I think it’s more like, ‘I’m angry, I’m confused, I’m addicted, I want to be a friend.’ You take those feelings and you, I don’t know, you sort of say, ‘I can make something beautiful and holy and amazing out of this.” That’s hope as I see it in my work and as I hope it represents itself in my work.”

The post INTERVIEW: Joy Oladokun on ‘in defense of my own happiness’ appeared first on off the record.