How She Floats – An Interview with Joy Ike

I can understand how that can be confusing, if not frustrating. Your sound and lyrical content are so unique. You have a real connection with ethereal elements in your music (songs like How She Floats and City Lights). What is it about these themes that attract you?

I really want to make music that is like taking a breath of fresh air. For me a good song is like being on a Greyhound bus for five hours (I’ve been on a lot of buses lately), and then as soon as you arrive at your destination, you step outside those doors and you take a deep breath of fresh air. That is what good music is like to me – clean air.

So I dunno… I think I am attracted to imagery. When I hear a good song, it puts pictures in my head – pictures of taking a deep breath or sitting down for a good meal (I think music is also like a good meal). If a song paints a picture for me, then I am attracted to that song. So I want my songs to do the same.

You explore themes of self-awareness and discovery. What have you discovered about yourself through your own writing? Through writings of others that may have inspired your own work?

My favorite songwriter of all time, Sara Groves, says that music (or art) is necessary because it gives a voice to what is happening in our world. It tells the story as it is happening. Only artists do this – musicians, visual artists, architects, designers, what have you! This is very exciting to me and it has really pushed me to be a better songwriter. I want to write good music about what’s happening in my world, and I want to challenge people to think about what’s happening around them. That’s definitely what my last album, Rumors, was about.

More and more every day, I see God’s hand at work in the world. I see lovely art and I get excited and I’m like, “Woah! I can’t believe someone actually painted that with their own hands!” and, “Look at how the light hits that!” and, “Wow look at the color in the sunset. That is unreal!” I am just continually amazed by all things beautiful. And I cannot believe that this world is here by chance. It was intentional – intentionally beautiful! And I’m glad I get to be a part of it!

Every album you become bolder in your sound. What’s your next level/where do you want to go?

I’m so excited I could burst! I will soon be embarking on a new album. I am not giving any dates because I don’t know how it will all fall into place. BUT as the years have passed, I have become more confident in my sound and what I want to sound like. So I think the next album will be more polished – on my end and on the production side as well. Lyrically, it will be more heartfelt, and more fun. There are a lot of love songs and it will mostly be a love album. I think you will just have to wait and see. I will too!

In terms of production and any new angles with your sound, do you have any producers you’d like to work with? Any musicians?

Yes! Right now, as I enter the preliminary stage of preparing to record a new album, I have been talking with a few producers. I’m really going to keep my lips sealed because I don’t know how things will pan out in the coming weeks. But if all goes well, I will be working with a producer that I am really excited about! He’s done a handful of projects where “pop” meets “organic” and that’s really what I’m going for on this next project. Like I said, I want the next album to be more polished, but I don’t want it to lose that “au natural” sound that is so much a part of who I am. So just be on the lookout!