Skin by Joy Crookes

by Lana Fleischli

Last week while in search of new music to write about, I came across Joy Crookes. I listened to a snippet of “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” and was hooked! She is an artist that combines her cultural influences with her own story of perseverance, making the album Skin a joy to listen to (see what I did there?). 

I want to start with talking about the music itself. Crooke’s voice takes hold of the listener. Her voice is strong and powerful. The music doesn’t overtake her voice. It goes along with it. The instruments really fit the song. For slower songs, like “To Lose Someone,” she uses piano and strings and for more upbeat songs, like “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” she uses percussion and bass. 

I think it is important to speculate about an overarching theme throughout the album. While the album itself isn’t just about perseverance, it’s about her, I noticed that songs like “I Don’t Mind,” “When You Were Mine,” “Unlearn You,” and “Skin” all seem to discuss a relationship that she was in that was very toxic. In the song “Unlearn You” she sings about feeling better in her own skin after not being with this person. This song was incredibly striking. I kept listeing and re listening because it sounded like it was about rape. It was about Crookes having to heal and “unlearn” what this person did to her so that she can love herself again. 

In the first song “I Don’t Mind,” it seems like she is recounting when she let this person into her life and told herself that what was going on was okay. This storyline hit me hard. In “When You Were Mine,” she sings about how this person wasn’t as good as they are now when they were with her. After hurting her, they became a better person. 

Skin is an album about Joy Crookes processing her life essentially. I found the song “19th Floor” to be very moving. She sings about her home and where she grew up and it ties in with everything else because it’s her story and there seems to be some pain there, but she’s processing it and turning it into a beautiful piece of work. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this album. The music is so vulnerable, but her singing abilities make it feel alive. Her story pulls the listener in and they feel what she’s feeling. By being vulnerable, Skin becomes a forceful album.