Joy Morales

Up and Coming Artist

When did you first get into music?

I come from a family of musicians. My grandmother played the saxophone, harmonica and guitar. My great uncles were all a group of singers called Genesis and sang lots of gospel. And my father is a Latin singer who toured at a young age with the legends of salsa, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz before going on his own. So, when I expressed that I’d like to learn to play the piano at age 6, my father didn’t object. I always had a love/hate relationship with music. Hated the instruction and instructors but was fascinated with the world your mind could create through the ears. A child loves to create fantastical worlds in their mind where they can dictate the color, texture, scenario of said world and what they are in it. I believe that part’s the most fun. Whether they can fly, run really fast or are incredibly acrobatically skilled, they are the masters and the “dime piece” of that world. That’s how I feel when I make music.

What genre of music do you perform and why?

Genre’s always been a complicated thing for me to feel totally set on, when I’m considering my music. I feel this is because when I’m creating, I’m - taking moods from scenes in films, melodic lines from my favorite rock/r&b singers, feels and rhythms from different cultures and sort of mixing it in a giant pot. Never really sure what’ll come out at times. Sometimes, I feel I make avant-pop music because I don’t follow a rigid A B A B format but my chord structures are very pop. Other times, I feel very heavy on the experimental electronic and ambient side. Many times, I think it’s movie music. And when I’ve gone totally crazy, I think it’s salsa. Not because of the style of that genre whatsoever, but because my grandparents Richie & Bobby (they took my father in as family, as he had no one in states when leaving his hometown in Puerto Rico) once said this, when asked what genre their music would be called: “oh I don’t know... we sort of pulled influences from here and there and mixed it all in a pot, like a salsa”. I’d be curious to hear your take on it. But if I had to be set on one, we can settle for experimental electronic... for now.

And why did you choose that style of music?

My newly released debut EP, Neuma’s Cry, takes said influences from artists like (but not limited to): Arca, Imogen Heap, FKA Twigs, Björk, and Radiohead. I was listening to these people religiously over the last five years. Took showers, toured, went through periods of straight up depression with them. I think it’s the way they color their simplistic chords, how they’re so metamorphic and melancholic... it currently resonates with me. So, it’s safe to say that experimental electronic sounds have quite the influence on me and how I view the world.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

My inspiration to pursue career in music comes from the stage, primarily. At first it was watching my father in action during his tours. Seeing him give himself fully on stage was, and still is, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. But, it’s also in seeing other musicians and artists be unapologetically themselves when they’re practicing/performing their craft. There’s such an attractive light and air to them when they’re in the shed.

I’m sure you have shared the stage with a lot of talented artists/celebrities along the way. Would you share one or two of your favorite stories with us?

My initial favorite experience is playing for singer and longtime collaborator on all of Kendrick Lamar’s discography, Anna Wise. I was in California spending a couple weeks with her and my friend Jon Bap, we were working on my EP and rehearsing her music for a couple shows when she got called to open for Hiatus Kaiyote in DTLA. It was such an intimate set, with Jon playing a drum and some guitar, while I played keys and bass, all of us singing. It was the first time we had played such a stripped-down version of what Anna’s music would normally be and it felt so free and powerful. The homies from Hiatus had such a wonderful energy that night and it felt like everyone was part of something bigger than just two bands playing songs one after another.

The other experience I’ll never forget is opening for Anderson. Paak with Kadhja Bonet over at House of Vans in Chicago. I was playing keys and bass, singing backgrounds for her and we were a four-piece group put together just shortly before the show. Getting to play with fellow Gorillaz drummer Gabe Wallace, and Joe Harrison (guitarist for Nick Hakim) was such a treat. That venue was so packed and hot, sweat came in bullets that evening but the music and energy in that room - from the crowd, to the bands, was sky high.

How has your music evolved since you first began performing/songwriting?

As mentioned before, I come from a line of musicians in my family and came to take up the practice at a young age. And like many areas in my life, I went through different stages of metamorphosis in music. I first wanted nothing to do with music because I wanted to be an athlete, but didn’t want my father to question why I gave up on it by taking up the flute and playing in orchestras and wind ensembles at the schools I attended. My father also toured quite a bit throughout my life, so my mother and I went everywhere with him and he’d have me sing and accompany with piano many a time. I grew up in church, so it was a given that I sang and played regularly as well. I felt like it took enough of my time, and wasn’t sure how I felt about it like I did sports. Once I was reaching my final years of high school, after somehow being coaxed to play the piano once again, I realized that the one constant thing about me (interest-wise, as far as careers were concerned) was music. But not just as a skill or language that I developed, but it was the one thing that helped me maintain that childish and fantastical mind I had when I was a kid. And not only that, but the piano and voice were the best way for me to illustrate that.

So, I auditioned for The New School for Jazz (as it was called at the time) in New York City and was accepted. I went through a change in appreciation for other styles of music that I didn’t think I’d ever spend any time getting to know, and how it shaped everything we hear today, and soon found myself seeing (and hearing) every style of music differently. I found out how to access the richer palate of colors I always wanted to access in my mind when I listened to Prince, saw how punk groups like Death and the New York Dolls influenced so much of the avant-garde, experimental electronic, noise and even pop genres that we hear today. I started catching and appreciating all the nuances and inflections in a musician’s voice and wanted to be like that even more. What I am now, I believe, is just a culmination of all that. And currently changing.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other, drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

It’s got to be wonder, for me. I have such a love for the fantastical, the mysterious, and breathe-taking - that when I hear it in my ears, it makes my heart skip. I hear it when the way people sing and play through their emotions. And how it helps in healing others however they need it. And that’s exactly what reminds me that I’m doing what I need to be doing and I am exactly where I need to be.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as an artist in an industry overflowing with new talent and ideas?

Ooh, flavors. In the concoction that makes me, me... I’d like to think it’s a purity of sound that me unique. I’ve always been told by people that when I speak Spanish, I don’t sound like I come from any country. I just sound like me. Unmistakably. I come from a Puerto Rican father and a Colombian mother who have different accents when they speak because of where they come from, respectively. So, one would naturally think I’d gravitate to one of them. But, I also lived around many different people that came from all kinds of Spanish speaking countries - whether Cuban, Dominican, Nicaraguan, etc. - that maybe I just naturally took to my own voice. I feel like the same can be said about my sound. I might sound like lots of different things, or people for instances, but my voice is unmistakably mine and so is every sound that comes from me.

Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Man! Talking to a crowd is such a problem for me. I have no problem writing my thoughts down, so much so that I over share many a time, but when it comes to speaking... I never know where to begin. I think it’s just because there’s always so much in my head and it can be hard to decipher what the most important things are to say at that moment. And the pandemic hasn’t really given me a chance to see if I’m getting better at it, I’ve only just begun to exist as my own artist!

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art.” Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

Suffering is my middle name. I’m laughing as I say this. I am currently writing new music for an album (coming out sometime in the future) and trying my darnedest not to write from a place of doubt, depression or hurt. Neuma’s Cry comes from a place of extreme doubt and depression, disillusion and an opening of eyes to the reality we live in (and the reality of ourselves) that I feel like every sound in that record is so vivid and pungent despite its softness.

How do you feel the internet has impacted the music business?

The internet is just a big playground to me. But not an obvious one. It’s not your friend, nor your enemy, depending on how you work it. It’s been tough for me to find the people that will aid me in pushing my brand, but being the doer that I am (ha), I’ve been able to research ways for me to do it myself as best I can. I still feel like there are some things that the internet can’t do for me, that only time and experience will, so I try to exercise patience.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

I’d want record labels to probably revert to the way they used to work in the 70s and early 80s. Music was booming by then, and artists were able to be backed a bit more substantially by their labels.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today? And why?

Mercy by Andre Crouch Kid A by Radiohead Vulnicura by Bjork Details by Frou Frou Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz 40 Anniversario: Live Fi by Bibio

These records illustrate me at different times in my life - from my childhood to now.

Tell us about your current project.

Neuma’s Cry is basically a metamorphosis of self, a growth from childhood and naïveté to experience. In my experience, it’s about my growing pains and about who God is in my life. The record takes on a sonic transformation as well. It starts off light and airy and turns dark and expansive. Finally channeling a direction, it spreads its wings and moves forward. Each song is illustrated in dialogues, the first being a conversation between me and God. The second, between me and the World. The second to last is between me and my Self. All of this culminating to me having more of an understanding of myself, and the different rooms and corridors that occupy my being. It’s a process. And processes can only begin when you make a move. A calling out. A cry. That’s why it’s called Neuma’s Cry, the “crying out of the soul”.

What is the best advice you have received?

Success is the culmination preparation and luck, but luck is really the residue of preparation. A good friend told me that just a couple days ago.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

My music is on all streaming platforms - from Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud to AWA and Xiami (what’s good, Asia?). If you’d like to find your preferred service, go to ffm.bio/joymorales to listen now!

Where are you from? City, State, Town, Country?

I’m from Miami, Florida USA and currently living in New York City.

Do you have social media?

My social handles are: @jemmusic_ on Instagram and Twitter, Joy Morales on Facebook and YouTube.

All photos were shot by Cherie Bugtong, @cheriebugtong on Instagram.