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

Joy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’m really proud of my song I Am A Woman! I wrote it during a time when there were a lot of debates, conversations, and even full-on podcasts surrounding women’s innate value and how to quantify said value. This was also around the time that the news was filled with unfortunate circumstances in connection with rigorous cosmetic surgeries and lots of women were suffering major harm whilst in pursuit of impossible body and beauty standards. I wanted to remind women and girls everywhere that their worth is not tied to a particular weight, beauty standard, or even their usefulness to others. I also wanted to encourage women to find themselves and self-reflect so they could come into their own and be free from harsh societal expectations about what they look like and act like and dress like etc. With women’s month coming up I’ve been reflecting on all the women who have told me how inspired they were by the song and video, how they felt seen and related to and how much more women I wanted to reach!

Joy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Joy Orleans, a recording and performing artist from New Orleans, Louisiana. I’ve been singing and performing since i was 5 years old. I started singing in my family’s gospel quartet!

The music I make is inspiring, thought-provoking, and uplifting. The main thing most people know me for is encouraging others, occasionally speaking harsh truths, and most importantly community advocacy. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done, and very happy to be able to serve various communities. I was recognized for my work with the “A Celebration of Women” community advocacy award in 2017.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think artists are in a unique position of being able to freely share of themselves in ways that cause us to be more relateable, approachable and impactful. The most rewarding experience is whenever someone tells me my song spoke their truth, they keep listening to it or that it healed them.

I love it when my music reaches others. When it touches them, and they connect with the message and know all the lyrics.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

One thing most people don’t realize is that the same classes that exist in society exist in the creative community as well. While there are the Beyonces and Banksys of the world whose art makes them large quantities of fame and fortune and the SoundCloud rappers and art school dropouts who work a day job, there is a middle ground of full-time artists who make a humble and modest living from their art.

I think there should be more programs like MusiCares, programs that care for full-time musicians who don’t receive benefits from a day job and don’t have the resources of large artists.

I think this will help more artists share their art without stressing about resources, returning to traditional work, or depriving themselves. Art is the foundation of culture, and the culture will suffer at the hindrance of art. When the culture suffers, so does morale, the economy, and society as a whole. This is why I think we should protect and support the makers of art.

Contact Info:

• Website: joyorleans.com
• Instagram: iamjoyorleans
• Facebook: iamjoyorleans
• Twitter: iamjoyorleans
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@joyorleansvevo2350
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5EOJz1huRaRTOXcWGwA03d https://music.apple.com/us/artist/joy-orleans/1485112641

Image Credits
Amanda Scurlock