A Joyce Babatunde a Day Keeps the Demons Away
A meditation on the artistry of Joyce Babatunde, an Afrosoul musician whose voice and lyricism operate as a form of spiritual balm. The writer praises her as a poet-musician who restores depth and authenticity to a landscape often dominated by commercial formula.
It’s not very often that I take absolute delight in writing or talking about a musical discovery. This is most certainly one of those moments. Joyce Babatunde is not a musical discovery, at least not for me. I have watched her perform live and I have listened to her songs before, but those times didn’t always feel like the right time to talk about or write about what her music does to me.
Some things cannot be rushed. This is one of those things. Some moments cannot be rushed. This is one of those times. And to borrow her words, I feel it in my spirit and in feel it deep in my marrow and in every way that now is the time to express what I feel.
Joyce’s music in the simplest of definitions is a delicacy. It’s the kind of music that requires a certain atmosphere to grab its ebb and flow in its entirety. Her voice soothes its way into your tympanum and it paints a melodious picture on the walls of your eardrum with the masterstroke worthy of a Cezanne or a Picasso.
Her voice evokes the scenery of a semi-lit room shrouded in a hue of red; a red lamp, red cushions, a tray of red cupcakes on the lilac marble floor, scarlet silk drapes, red wine, and the sweet, suffocating smell of red roses wafting through the open windows overlooking the gently ebbing crimson waves of a river stained in the reflection of a blood-red moon against a backdrop of ox-blood clouds.
Her voice is a time machine that transports you through a multitude of emotions written in the essence of your mental reflections and experiences, lived and unlived. It’s the kind of voice that cradles you gently, relaxes you and makes you feel like you had no worry in the world. It’s a litany of purification strong enough to exorcise your personal demons and torments. Her voice is what came out of David’s harp when King Saul had demons, if there had to be a voice to that David’s harp.
And what can I say about her writing? That is where Joyce excels. At a time when lyrics are watered down to the maximum to catchy tunes and repetitive lines, it is refreshing to see someone take their time and actually write meaningful lyrics that actually convey not just meaning but also poetry and texture to it. It takes only a few mins into her music to understand that she is before everything, a poet.
To say the truth, we don’t deserve Joyce Babatunde.
Joyce reminds me so much of Jill Scott. I’d bet money on the fact that Jill Scott is an influence to her. Joyce’s genre (Afrosoul) is an extension of what Jill Scott does (Soul music). And just like Jill Scott, Joyce raps too. And raps really well. On the song Selah, her rap reminds me of Jill Scott’s on the song “You Got Me” by The Roots.
Artists like Joyce Babatunde are what we need more in our day and age. Purists who break away from the mould of the mainstream brouhaha and bring unique touch, authenticity and heart and soul. She adds a voice to a much-needed need for variety in our music landscape. While almost everyone else makes us sweat or sway, artistes like Joyce transport us to a chilly morning walk through a forest of dew-laden leaves where a serene calm reminds us that our spirit is alive and that we are alive.
- Wandji Wilfred. . Click here to watch Joyce Babatunde’s latest release “Merry Go Round”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2lWkGRf69U
Written in late 2019, this piece captures a moment when streaming had accelerated the homogenization of popular music, and when calls for artistic integrity and genre experimentation were becoming more urgent among discerning listeners and critics across African music scenes.
The piece articulates a philosophy of music as transcendence rather than entertainment—a stance that locates value in restraint, lyricism, and emotional precision. It reads now as a counterweight to algorithmic playlist culture, and as testimony to the quiet influence of artists who refuse to optimize for virality. It also marks Poise's consistent attention to local figures whose work deserves witness beyond their immediate circle.