Joy Oladokun

Joy Oladokun, born Olubukola Joy Oladokun in 1992, grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona, the daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, listening to country and folk alongside Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill. She led worship at her family's church as a child before leaving it, feeling it limited her creativity, and at ten picked up guitar after seeing a video of Tracy Chapman.

She later moved to Los Angeles and then East Nashville, where she signed a publishing deal and began writing in earnest. Her songs draw on folk, soul and quiet indie-pop, built around fingerpicked guitar and layered vocals, and her writing is direct and largely first-person, addressing faith, race, queerness and doubt without raising its voice.

She self-released the Cathedrals EP in 2015 and a Kickstarter-funded debut album, Carry, in 2016. Songs like "Sunday", "Who Do I Turn To?" and "I See America" took on queerness inside the church, the killing of Black Americans and systemic racism directly; "I See America" made NPR's list of the best songs of 2020.

Her album In Defense of My Own Happiness, released in 2021 after an earlier compilation of demos, was followed in 2023 by Proof of Life, featuring guest turns from Mt. Joy, Manchester Orchestra, Chris Stapleton and Noah Kahan, and in 2024 by Observations from a Crowded Room. She has collaborated with artists across pop, country and rock while staying outside any single genre, and opened tour dates for Hozier.