Acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer and performer Joy Oladokun’s anticipated new studio album, Observations From a Crowded Room, is out now via Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records. Stream/purchase HERE. In conjunction with the release, the official video for “Am I?” is also out now. Watch/share HERE.
Written, produced and largely performed by Oladokun alone, the album marks a personal and creative turning point for the Nashville-based artist and was crafted during a period of intense introspection and questioning. The 15-track collection—comprised of 12 songs and 3 spoken interludes—finds Oladokun reflecting on her place in the world, both as a person and an artist, while blending her pop-folk roots with electronic and psychedelic elements. Ahead of the release, album tracks “I’D MISS THE BIRDS,” “NO COUNTRY,” “QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH” and “DRUGS” have received widespread critical attention from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard. Stereogum, Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, Atwood Magazine, OUT Magazine and more.
Reflecting on the project, Oladokun shares, “This album became a way for me to write things, feel things, process things. Because, as the producer, I just had to sit with these songs for so long. It became really healing in a sense of, ‘I made this. I’m listening to an album that I genuinely love. All the sounds and bits and bobs came from me with the help of just an engineer.’ It was transformative. So, it started out as, ‘I quit,’ and it has ended up as a fresh start.”
The new music follows Oladokun’s recent rendition of Beyoncé’s “II Most Wanted” for Apple Music Sessions and the Jack Antonoff collaboration, “I Wished On The Moon,” featured on the official soundtrack for Apple TV+’s The New Look.
In addition to supporting Hozier in Australia and New Zealand this fall, Oladokun recently announced her extensive headline tour, “The Blackbird Tour,” set to kick off in January. The run includes shows at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, New York’s Irving Plaza, Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre, with all proceeds from the Knoxville show benefiting the East Tennessee Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund. More stops include West Hollywood’s Troubadour (two nights), Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, Boston’s Royale, Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse, Denver’s Summit, Seattle’s The Showbox, Phoenix’s The Van Buren, Dallas’ Studio at The Factory and Austin’s Scoot Inn among several others. See below for the complete tour itinerary. Tickets are on-sale now, with $1 from each purchase benefitting The Ally Coalition. Full details can be found at www.joyoladokun.com/tour.
Since her breakthrough in 2020, Oladokun has released a pair of hugely acclaimed full-length albums—2021’s in defense of my own happiness and 2023’s Proof of Life—both of which landed on numerous best-of-the-year lists. Of Oladokun, The New York Times praises, “her songs are conversational and confessional, and her hooky but profound melodies turn her lyrics into mantras,” while Rolling Stone calls them, “Nashville’s most low-key musical revolutionary…in this time of shifting priorities away from work toward self-care and connection with others, Oladokun is offering a master class in those subjects” and NPR Music asserts, “She has a remarkable ability to distill how forces at work in the world…she can make even social and political protest feel like an intimate, warmly human act.”
Moreover, in the last few years, Oladokun—a proud queer Black person and daughter of Nigerian immigrants—has performed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “CBS Saturday Morning,” “TODAY,” PBS’ “Austin City Limits and NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” series. Oladokun’s music has also been included in the Al Sharpton documentary, Loudmouth, CBS’ “CSI: Vegas,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC’s “Station 19,” NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and HBO’s “And Just Like That,” while her song, “i see america,” was also selected as a finalist for the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Award, Best Song for Social Change. Widely respected by her peers, Oladokun has collaborated with artists such as Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Jason Isbell and Noah Kahan and has joined Morris, Isbell, Kahan, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket, Tyler Childers, Pink Sweat$, Leon Bridges and Manchester Orchestra on the road.
OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM TRACK LIST
1. LETTER FROM A BLACKBIRD
2. AM I?
3. OBSERVATION #1
4. STRONG ONES
5. DRUGS
6. QUESTIONS, CHAOS & FAITH
7. NO COUNTRY
8. OBSERVATION #2
9. HOLLYWOOD
10. flowers
11. DUST/DIVINITY
12. GOOD ENOUGH
13. OBSERVATION #3
14. I’D MISS THE BIRDS
15. GOODBYE
JOY OLADOKUN CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
November 5—Perth, Australia—RAC Arena*
November 6—Perth, Australia—RAC Arena*
November 8—Adelaide, Australia—Adelaide Entertainment Centre*
November 12—Melbourne, Australia—Sydney Myer Music Bowl*
November 13—Melbourne, Australia—Sydney Myer Music Bowl*
November 15—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena*
November 18—Brisbane, Australia—Riverstage Brisbane*
November 20—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena*
November 22—Christchurch, New Zealand—Wolfbrook Arena*
November 23—Christchurch, New Zealand—Wolfbrook Arena*
January 9-13—Riviera Cancun, Mexico—Moon Palace
January 16—Minneapolis, MN—First Avenue
January 17—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall
January 18—Detroit, MI—El Club
January 20—Louisville, KY—Headliners Music Hall
January 21—Columbus, OH—Newport Music Hall
January 22—Cleveland, OH—House of Blues
January 23—Toronto, ON—The Axis Club
January 25—Montreal, QB—Theatre Beanfield
January 26—South Burlington, VT—Higher Ground Ballroom
January 28—Portland, ME—State Theatre
January 30—New York, NY—Irving Plaza
February 1—Boston, MA—Royale
February 4—Philadelphia, PA—Union Transfer
February 7—Washington, D.C.—The Howard
February 8—Charlotte, NC—The Underground
February 11—Raleigh, NC—Lincoln Theatre
February 13—Knoxville, TN—Bijou Theatre^
February 14—Atlanta, GA—Variety Playhouse
February 25—Tulsa, OK—Cain’s Ballroom
February 26—Kansas City, MO—The Truman
March 1—Denver, CO—Summit
March 3—Salt Lake City, UT—Soundwell
March 5—Seattle, WA—The Showbox
March 6—Vancouver, BC—Commodore Ballroom
March 7—Portland, OR—McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
March 9—San Francisco, CA—The Fillmore
March 12—West Hollywood, CA—Troubadour
March 13—West Hollywood, CA—Troubadour
March 16—San Diego, CA—The Observatory at North Park
March 18—Phoenix, AZ—The Van Buren
March 19—Santa Fe, NM—Meow Wolf
March 21—Dallas, TX—Studio at The Factory
March 22—Austin, TX—Scoot Inn
March 25—Birmingham, AL—Saturn
March 27—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium
May 5-7—Miramar Beach, FL—Moon Crush: The Sea & ME
*with Hozier
^Benefit show with all proceeds benefitting East Tennessee Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund
