Joeboy Struggled With Writer’s Block While Making His New Album 

Joeboy has revealed the creative process behind his new album “Body & Soul.”

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

Joeboy’s highly awaited second album ‘Body & Soul’ was released on May 19, 2023, and is expected to propel him to new heights.

The music superstar discussed the album’s inspirations with Dada Boy Ehiz on Apple Music Africa Now Radio.

According to Joeboy, the album has the best of both worlds, as listeners will enjoy wonderful love songs and songs about relationship troubles.

“It’s like the best of both worlds – there’s the love ideology there, [and] there’s the toxic love – because at the end of the day, love is not just a bed of roses, there are battles and challenges that people in relationships have to go through.

There’s this social media idea that love is perfect and white as snow, but that’s not it. Love is war, basically, so I’ve come to understand that and the album doesn’t just touch on the positive aspects of love, it touches on the other aspects of love. Not just the good part.”

Joeboy said that he had a creative block throughout the album-making process because he overthought the path to take.

“As a mainstream artist, there’s a pressure that comes with trying to make the next hit record, and it brings a lot of undue and unnecessary pressure on yourself. I remember while I was working on the album I had a creative block, I was just thinking of too many factors and when you start putting in too many factors in regards to making music it slows down your creativity, which is what I’ve learned right now.”

He also said that he could get off the block by following the counsel of long-term collaborator E Kelly, who advised him to compose music from the heart simply.

“I was speaking to one of my producers, E Kelly – he’s been working with me since the beginning of my career – and [he was] like you know what, just make music without any forms of barriers or boundaries, just make music that comes out naturally. Don’t try to make it sound a certain type of way, make it like you’re enjoying yourself. At the end of the day, before the fame and the money, music was something I just loved doing, like I enjoyed doing, so I just really went back to that point.”

Joeboy didn’t include anybody on his debut, however, he has subsequently appeared in a few collaborations. Joeboy said he chose to include musicians on ‘Body & Soul’ because he believed it was time to start working with the artists he admires and respects.

“I’d say this point it was just necessary. With the first album I just really wanted people to connect to me directly – like ok, this is me, this is what I entail right now. The first album is the foundation of the music, so when people want to go back to the source, they know that this is the vibe and sound this person started from. I wanted it to be just me on that particular album so people can get the whole package of me at that point.

Moving forward with this album it was just a matter of time because I’ve grown to learn working with different artists I really love and respect, so it was time to work with people, and the songs were beautiful.”

Lead singles ‘Alcohol,’ ‘Contour,’ ‘Body & Soul,’ and ‘Duffel Bag’ preceded the 15-track album. The album has received critical praise, with Pulse describing it as one of the finest projects to come out in 2023.