Joy Williams 'Genesis' album

Twenty-two-year-old singer/songwriter Joy Williams can’t help but smile when she talks about her life as though it’s just now beginning. Because, in many ways, she knows it’s true.

It’s been nearly five years since Joy emerged onto the music scene with the 2001 release of her critically-acclaimed, self-titled debut album on Reunion Records. At that time, as a 17-year old, she was juggling the challenges of high school with the demanding schedule of a recording artist. By the time her sophomore effort, By Surprise, released in 2002, Joy had logged nearly 250 days on the road performing before crowds across the country, and, at the same time, had graduated at the top of her class.

“I know that this is a privilege, and one that’s not due to merit,” Joy admits. “I realize that not everybody gets to do this. But I did grow up quickly, and there have been moments when I’ve had to deal with anger over that. I was college-bound, wanting to go to that Ivy League school and use that scholarship I’d worked so hard for. I would find myself so jealous of friends at college who would talk about professors they loved and trips they were taking just because they could. But I signed on to a different life and the path I’ve taken has included some of those life journeys I had hoped for.”

Those journeys have included some pretty monumental moments in Joy’s life, not the least of which is her marriage to husband Nate Yetton in June of 2004. Some of the best and most memorable music happens when life and art come together, and it’s no accident that Joy’s newest album, Genesis, has taken well over two years to come to fruition. That two years brought maturity, experience, and confidence to a performer who already owned a sense insight and artistry shared by few.

“There have been some pretty solid jumps in terms of my life experiences,” Joy shares. “So much has changed from growing up a bit and becoming more independent, to meeting the man that I’ll grow old with. There have been lots of steps made – not in terms of miles, but in terms of life. I feel like there have been a lot of new avenues to walk down, and I’ve hit a couple of dead-end streets and had to turn around.”

Genesis will undoubtedly create new opinions and deeper appreciation of Joy’s artistry from both critics and fans alike. Produced by Matt Bronleewe (Natalie Imbruglia, Jars of Clay), it is the first album on which Joy has co-written every song. Its progressive pop rock sound combines programmed elements with acoustic guitar, piano and even stringed instruments recorded in Prague.

“Working with Matt was incredible,” says Joy. “I’ve never had more fun working on an album. We spent more time laughing than recording, I think! He really encouraged me to find myself and to find the music within me. It was very much a team effort. His confidence in what I was doing spurred me on to work harder and dig deeper into this project than on any other before.”

“I think this album may cause people to blink twice,” she adds. “It’s a real change for me, but I think (and I hope) there’s a musical style here that evidences growth. Over the past couple of years, I really began to just dive into music and realized for the first time that what I love to listen to could be translated into the kind of music I wanted to make.”

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Collaborating with multiple co-writers, Joy crafted a collection of songs that are more vulnerable and personal to her than any she’s ever recorded, while remaining universally relevant. “The people who have made the most impact on me in my life are the people who lived out what they believe instead of just telling me, and I wanted to make an album that reflected that. It’s conversations I would have with some of my closest friends sitting in our living room or in a coffee shop.”

The album’s title is taken directly from the song “Say Goodbye,” which is about “saying goodbye to who we were before and saying hello to new beginnings. The whole album is a journey of self-discovery, new beginnings, falling in love; my fingerprints are all over it,” Joy admits. “I really feel like I’m making my first album.”

Joy’s first single, “We” breaks down the walls between artists like herself and the listeners who put them
on a pedestal. The chorus of the song states, “We are not that different from each other/We just want somebody to discover/Who we really are when we drop our guard/That love has got to start with you
and me.”

The challenge to drop our guard and be real with one another is a theme that weaves in and out of the album through songs such as “Hide” and “Child of Eden”. Having the courage to be who we really are is something Joy wants to communicate to her listeners, especially to young women her own age.

“I’m just a broken person like everybody else is,” says Joy. “Connecting is what makes me feel alive—knowing I’m not the only one who has ever felt alone, or misunderstood, or insecure, or naïve, or who has made stupid mistakes. That’s in my journal – it’s in my life – it’s in the fabric of who I am. Sometimes I’m like an 8-year-old in high heels, wobbling, knowing where I want to head, and knowing I can’t get there on my own. I need other people.”

Certainly the “new beginnings” and changes in Joy’s life have brought about a new outlook that demonstrates the maturity and growth of an artist who has consistently triumphed as a multi-talented singer, songwriter and performer.

“If I can encourage somebody else, then that’s what it comes down to,” Joy says. “This is, in and of itself, just music. But I know that music touches hearts, and that’s what I hope this album will do.”

gen· e· sis (jen´ i-sis) n. The coming into being of something; the origin; beginning

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Tracklisting

Joy Williams - Genesis