Joy Crookes
"First, art is the cognition of life. Art is not the
free play of fantasy, feelings, and moods: art is not the expression of merely
the subjective sensations and experiences of the poet... Like science, art cognises
life"
Aleksandr Voronsky
"The peculiarity of the artist lies only in the fact
that he unconsciously separates and notices only the typical, and this typical
is not abstract, but concrete. It is an object and exists in the form of
images".
Aleksandr Voronsky
It is unquestionably true that the need for art is not
created by economic conditions. But neither is the need for food created by
economics. On the contrary, the need for food and warmth creates economics.
Leon Trotsky
Joy Crookes (born 1998) is a British singer-songwriter of
Bangladeshi and Irish heritage whose work blends soul, R&B, jazz, and
chamber pop with sharply observed autobiographical lyrics. She emerged as a
distinctive voice in the 2010s-2020s for her warm, expressive vocal delivery
and songs that interweave family history, migration, class and intimate
relationships. Her debut album, Skin (2021), and earlier EPs and singles
established her reputation for crafting songs that make private memory speak to
broader social conditions.
Her debut album, Skin, and her follow-up album, Juniper,
were written while embedded in the stifling atmosphere of the capitalist
cultural economy—the crisis of the music industry and streaming economics shape
who survives and what reaches audiences. Crookes frequently weaves social
commentary into her music, drawing on her South London upbringing and Bangladeshi
and Irish heritage to explore systemic issues. Her debut album, Skin, was particularly
noted for its "vibrant politics and beautiful storytelling", as were
all her previous works.
“You seem to forget you came here through a woman, show
some... respect.” – was seen as a challenge to patriarchy and male-dominated capitalist
political systems, and was written in response to the 2016 US election and the
experiences of women in her family. Kingdom": Written the day after the
2019 UK General Election, it critiqued the re-election of the Conservative
party and the resulting "wave of anti-immigration sentiment". “No
such thing as a Kingdom When tomorrow's done for the children.” – Suggests that
the state has failed the future generations.
Listeners should pay close attention to the jazz chords,
strings and restrained production, which create a humane atmosphere that
contrasts with the alienation Crookes describes. “Mathematics” is a beautifully
crafted song and my favourite on the album. As a social document shaped by
class relations and cultural forms, it works on many levels. Crookes often
grounds other songs in family portraits and migration histories.
It would help the listener to transcribe the lyrics and
identify concrete images, used by Crookes such as repeated motifs, numbers,
calculation, measurement), and who speaks. Her mother appears in several songs,
suggesting an extraordinarily close bond between mother and daughter. Her words,
arrangement, tempo, and vocal tone reflect her worldview.
Crooke’s music is a confirmation that Art cannot be
separated from the social forces that produce it. But she is different and an exception. Most
mainstream music globally is banal and controlled by corporate entities that
shape what reaches mass audiences and how artists survive the music industry’s
exploitation and streaming stratification. Crookes’ Juniper stands apart in
that it centres working-class life and minority experience rather than offering
mere escapism.
Joy Crookes’ Juniper is more than an accomplished musical second album: it is a resource for developing working-class cultural literacy. Reading
songs as documents of lived social relations trains the political
imagination—turning private memory into collective understanding and,
ultimately, organised action. Her album should be treated as both an artistic
and pedagogical text. A socialist analysis of her work will help build a socialist
consciousness and a socially equal society based on need, not profit.
