WILLPOWER Joy Denalane

• 1Can't We Smile02:53
• 2Fly By03:22
• 3Happy03:43
• 4Hideaway04:19
• 5Revolutions04:14
• 6Far Cry02:35
• 7Good Times Better04:04
• 8All Of Me03:36
• 9By Heart03:47
• 10Willpower03:36
• 11True (Soweto)03:33
• 12Happy02:57
• Total Runtime42:39

Info for WILLPOWER

A death and two goodbyes: The new and sixth Joy Denalane album will be released on 6 October 2023. "WILLPOWER" tells of letting go, of grief, but also of a newly won freedom - and of self-empowerment. A leap into the unknown with wildly oscillating Happysad soul of irrepressible intensity.

11 new tracks, including a feature with Wu-Tang Clan legend Ghostface Killah and produced by Roberto Di Gioia - as well as with Max Herre. On some selected tracks on "WILLPOWER", none other than the US jazz musician Tim Lefebvre, who most recently led the band with which David Bowie recorded his last album "Blackstar", plays the bass.

WILLPOWER" is now about things to come, the road ahead. The shimmering and the gravitational, seemingly conflicting poles from which the centre of power emerges that this woman has built in eleven songs gliding weightlessly towards infinity. With willpower, resilience, but also and above all acceptance.

"More than 20 years ago, I released my debut album "Mamani" with Four Music. Today, the team at Four Music is different and yet it feels like coming home to me. The spirit at Four Music is still unique. It feels good to know that my new album "WILLPOWER" is in good hands. I'm really looking forward to a great collaboration and to finally being able to go on tour with my band again in November!" (Joy Denalane)

With numerous hits and chart placements, Joy Denalane has established herself as one of the leading voices in the German music landscape. The 1999 single 'Mit Dir' together with Freundeskreis lead singer Max Herre established itself as a hit that shaped an entire generation. Her debut album 'Mamani' from 2002 set new standards in the German music landscape. The album reached gold status and brought the breakthrough for the talented artist. Her following four studio albums all reached top 10 positions in the album charts. Her last album to date, "Let Yourself Be Loved", was released in 2020. Now she returns with "WILLPOWER".

Joy Denalane

Joy Denalane
A person within earshot of music by Joy Denalane might think he or she is listening to neo-soul, whereas another might hear an African folk song, and yet a third person could be listening to a hip-hop soul joint. Born and raised in Berlin as the daughter of a German mother and a South African father, Joy Maureen Denalane has sung lyrics in various languages, including English and German, as well as the South African languages Xhosa and Shangan. Although her stylish vocals and sounds are clearly influenced by artists ranging from Letta Mbulu to Lauryn Hill, her inspiration to do music, period, originates from hip-hop, especially that of female firebrands Salt-N-Pepa and Roxanne Shanté, which began seeping into Germany in the late '80s. During this period, at the age of 16, Denalane moved out of her parent's home to involve herself in Germany's music scene. She was sure she could not rap, and so without any lessons or musical background, she picked up the microphone and trained herself to sing.

The Afro-German songstress started her budding career doing backup and support vocals for soul and reggae bands such as Cultural Roots and Family Affair. Her big break occurred when she was called into the city of Stuttgart to lay down vocals for established electronica and hip-hop producers DJ Thomilla and Tiefschwarz on the international dance hit "Music" in 1999. The lead member of German rap group Freundeskreis, Max Herre, also happened to be looking for a female vocalist in order to accompany him on the song "Mit Dir" ("With You"), which became a Top Five hit on the German charts the same year. Her relationship with Herre (whom she wound up marrying) enabled her to sign with the Sony subsidiary Four Music Records.

Mostly in German, Mamani debuted Denalane's singing talents in May 2002. Produced by Herre, the album blended traditional R&B with jazz, Afrobeat, and South African folk music; moreover, it notably contained horn arrangements and live flügelhorn by the illustrious South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela. Mamani, which debuted at number eight on the German charts, helped put definition to "German soul" within the world music arena. Afterward, she began receiving exposure in the U.S. from her guest vocals on the remix of the single "Go!" by American rapper Common. The song grabbed the attention of prolific arrangers and neo-soul mainstays like James Poyser, Jeff Bradshaw, Larry Gold, and a host of others who all contributed to Denalane's 2006 album Born & Raised. Recorded in Philadelphia and with all its songs in English, the LP was much more accessible for non-German speakers as well as hip-hop heads, boasting appearances from MCs Lupe Fiasco and Raekwon. It debuted at number two on the German album chart and broke into Billboard's European Top 100 album chart.

In 2008, Denalane teamed up with Bilal, Tweet, Dwele, and the MDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jun Märkl for the Dresden Soul Symphony, a one-off live project which saw them string together famous soul hits into a fully orchestrated classical work in four movements. The performance was broadcast on German radio and released as a live album. Afterward, Denalane returned to solo performance, and to her mother tongue; her next album, 2011's Maureen (her middle name), was completely in German, although she did release an English version for the international market. The album hit the Top Ten in Germany, and also reached the Swiss and Austrian charts. During 2014, Denalane appeared as a judge on the reality television show Rising Star. (John D. Buchanan, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.