Joy Crookes has released a new single and video, ‘Somebody To You’, the latest cut from her second album ‘Juniper’, set for 19th September. She has also announced a run of 10 in-store shows and signings across six dates in September, with ticket bundles available now via participating record shops. You can find details here.
Co-written and co-produced with long-time collaborator Harvey Grant, ‘Somebody To You’ introduces a reflective thread within ‘Juniper’. Joy says, “‘Somebody to You’ is a song that I wrote when questioning the reliance I had on someone I’m very close with and their reliance on me – and whether that needed to change in order for me to understand myself better.”
The track features backing vocals from Sam Fender, who became involved after meeting Crookes at the Mercury Prize in 2022. Joy Crookes says: “Sam and I met at the Mercury’s. We drank with Guy Garvey and ended up at Little Simz’s afters (I know, so many name drops) and became mates. A year later, he was down in London and I collected him from King’s Cross in my Suzuki and we bolted down Euston Road bitching about music and the state of the world to end up at Studio 13. He blasted some BVs out and played me his new record before it came out. I wouldn’t properly understand “shy bairns get nowt” if it wasn’t for Sam. My fav geordie mate.”
‘Juniper’ follows Crookes’ 2021 debut ‘Skin’, which received BRIT and Mercury Prize nominations. The new album was written with a stripped-back approach and produced by long-time collaborators including Blue May (Kano, Jorja Smith), Tev’n (Stormzy), and Harvey Grant (Arlo Parks). It includes guest appearances from Vince Staples on ‘Pass The Salt’ and Kano on ‘Mathematics’. Crookes describes the record as “more nuanced” than Skin: “With Juniper, every situation is visceral and I’m very much in it. It’s me in the centre of it all.”
Crookes appeared on Glastonbury’s Other Stage this summer and will return to touring later in the year with a full UK, Ireland, and European run, including two nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.
The tracklisting for ‘Juniper’ reads:
‘Brave’
‘Pass the Salt feat. Vince Staples’
‘Carmen’
‘Perfect Crime’
‘Mathematics feat. Kano’
‘House With A Pool’
‘I Know You’d Kill’
‘First Last Dance’
‘Mother’
‘Somebody To You’
‘Forever’
‘Paris’
The dates read:
NOVEMBER
3 Olympia, Dublin, Ireland
10 O2 Academy, Glasgow, UK
11 O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
12 Academy, Manchester, UK
14 O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
15 O2 Academy, Bournemouth, UK
16 O2 Academy, Bristol, UK
18 O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK
19 O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK
24 Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
25 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
26 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
28 Docks, Hamburg, Germany
29 Live Music Hall, Cologne, Germany
DECEMBER
1 X-tra, Zurich, Switzerland
2 Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
4 Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany
7 Vega Main Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
8 Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden
9 Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
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