We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joy Frost. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joy below.

Joy, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

A pivotal moment for me was the first time I heard All For You by Janet Jackson when I was 9. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous in that music video (styled by the incredible Wayne Scott Lukas, who 22 years later is now my style consultant for my next album!) but the audio production inspired me as well. At the start of that song, there is a voiceover which pans from the left ear, to the right ear, and then lands in the middle. I was so blown away by that effect and needed to know how they did it. I later went to school for audio engineering so I could produce my own songs. That was the domino that opened a thousand other chapters of my music career. I wouldn’t know anyone I know without it, and without that experience setting in motion the rest of my life, most of my listeners I have now would have never found me. I can trace all of it back to this moment of listening to Janet as a child.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Joy Frost, I am a singer, songwriter, pole dancer and producer. The music I make is pop, with vintage jazz influence as well as a little sad acoustic folk influence. I put the B in LGBTQ+, Most of my music revolves around themes of mental health and encouraging others to take care of themselves and embrace their authenticity. I’ve released quite a bit of sad music so far, but I’m learning now how to have a bit more fun.

I was always drawn to music from a young age. My mother, who is a professional musician locally in Utah, made it her mission to teach me to sing. Her name is Robyn Joy Frost, I am named after her. I never ‘decided’ to pursue music because it was just there from the start of my life, I was already singing and dancing publicly by age 6. Every time I tried to step away from music, it pulled me back in like a magnet, like we were tidally locked. As a teen even I briefly decided against being a singer entirely because I was struggling seriously with self harm and was deeply terrified to put myself out there, but no matter how much I resisted it, things kept unfolding in that direction anyway. Suddenly I had a song on the radio, in tv commercials, then I was being invited to write songs for incredible artists. Eventually I decided to surrender and trust myself to go for it. I’ve been slowly growing the most wonderful audience in the world, have received a few million streams on Spotify and recently was invited to become a Grammy voter. Now that I’ve spent years in therapy for my mental health and have developed the courage to embrace authenticity, I have found that doors have begun opening faster than ever. Most importantly, I am coming up on 14 years since the last time I cut myself. I am happy and thankful for everything that has happened.

The comment I receive the most, besides strangers asking if my vampire fangs are real (they are…), is just that my voice makes them feel calm. The thing I am most proud of is that strangers around the world send me messages sharing the most intimate and sincere things with me. Several women messaged me and told me I encouraged them to report their assaults, some closeted listeners came out to me when they didn’t dare tell anyone else, others started posting their art, others have told me they were suicidal and my music helped. I feel such a deep responsibility to be a source of nurturing with my music and the fact that I can actually do that is just the honor of my life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A difficult lesson for me to unlearn came from being a two time survivor of sexual assault, and enduring a decade long legal battle against a serial sexual predator. This is what my song Sexual Woman is all about. I was told at the height of my broken energy by someone on my legal team, “I couldn’t have cast a better victim”. I know he just meant that he believed I could win, but God, those words haunted me for years. The whole concept of being a “good victim” triggers my innermost feminist rage. But for years I internalised it and became terrified to heal in case the jury might not believe me anymore. I became afraid to release the songs I was writing which were fun and happy or sexy in any way and instead only shared covers or my darkest saddest songs. I stopped pole dancing too and stopped wearing dresses or anything that made me feel bold and bright and confident in my body. I got trapped in a broken hearted people pleasing energy. Somehow I believed abandoning this energy could jeopardise my chance to get justice for what happened to me, or that it could even protect me from more assault, but I was WRONG. I still suffered sexual harassment constantly, was stalked, groped in public etc. Modesty and timidity never protected me from anything, all it did was make me deeply depressed. Please don’t let anyone plant that seed in your head. Only sorrow blooms from that, not safety. Might as well just SHINE BRIGHT. This is one of the most important lessons of my life, which is why I named my album Sexual Woman, after the song. I won’t ever be a good victim ever again.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My core mission as an artist is to do whatever I can to benefit the mental health of my listeners. I’m a bit of a self-care bully. I want to encourage my audience and the people around me to take care of themselves, body and soul. As a self-harm survivor who has suffered with severe depression, anxiety and PTSD, I’m always sharing the habits I discover which consistently help make maintaining my mental health feel less impossible. A lot of my music revolves around these themes of mental health and summoning the courage for authenticity, like my songs Orbiting Your Heart. My message to anyone is to face their triggers till they have no power, to do what it takes to heal pain in their bodies and their hearts, and to listen to their secret innermost artistic desires. Anyone who spends enough time with me will tell you that I do this to the point of being annoying. But I’m not sorry about that because it’s just the essence of my heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joyfrost.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyfrostmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyfrostmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joyfrost
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/joyfrost
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2EFUUyqF089VU6QGHuG2oa?si=THadtk_5ToCWrmLUscXTGQ
• Tiktok: https://tiktok.com/@joyfrostmusic

Image Credits
Joy Frost, Jonas Hanspach, Anton Privel, Leja Johannson