JOYA MOOI’S ALL THE THING STURNS FEELING INTO STORY
JOYA MOOI’S ALL THE THING STURNS FEELING INTO STORY
Photo Credit: Aka Dre
“Known among a true base of fans for her inventive takes on R&B, the music of Joya Mooi is a delight.” – OkayAfrica
“A voice for the new and next generation” – Notion
“Joya Mooi cements herself as an enthralling artist” – 1883
“a heavenly slice of modern R&B that sparks a moment of tranquillity and reflection” – Afropunk
“a gorgeous piece of R&B songwriting” – CLASH
(South Africa, 24 April) – With her new EP All The Things, Dutch–South African artist Joya Mooi gathers the emotional threads she has been exploring over the past year into a single, intimate body of work. Across these songs, she turns toward feelings that rarely arrive in simple forms: jealousy, grief, security, motherhood. Rather than treating them as clear-cut states, Joya approaches them as a prism, shifting, layered, and often contradictory.
If her previous EP Open Hearts focused largely on the overlooked stories of others, All The Things turns the lens inward. With the exception of Only Water, a collaboration with Nigerian singer Lady Donli inspired by Olympic diver Greg Louganis’ search for refuge during the HIV crisis, the project draws directly from Joya’s own life. The past year has been a whirlwind, marked by personal loss, new beginnings, and profound emotional recalibration. This EP allows space for all of it.
The focus track All The Things captures that approach in miniature. Built around warm bass, tight drums, gentle guitar, and keys, the song unfolds through layered harmonies and Joya’s close, conversational vocal delivery. The production remains understated, allowing emotion to sit at the center. It is music designed for intimate listening.
Each song on the EP reflects a different facet of emotional complexity. Technicolour reframes envy as something more nuanced than its usual portrayal, revealing shades of admiration, insecurity, and self-recognition. Pay Day, written shortly after Joya learned she was pregnant, questions how we define wealth and stability when life itself begins to expand. Lookalike confronts grief with warmth and motion, inspired by the strange comfort of recognizing echoes of a lost loved one in strangers. With Only Water, she explores surrender and resilience through a fluid collaboration rooted in shared vulnerability.
Together, these songs form a narrative arc rather than a loose collection of singles. Joya approaches songwriting as a form of observation, allowing emotions to coexist without forcing resolution. Her work resists spectacle and melodrama, instead finding power in restraint and honesty.
Recently nominated for the Edison Prize, Joya has quietly built one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary indie R&B and alt-soul. Born in Amsterdam with South African roots, her music moves between continents and experiences a sense of natural globalism. The result is a sound that feels both intimate and expansive, grounded in personal storytelling while resonating far beyond it.
With airplay and support across BBC 6 Music, KCRW, Triple R, 5FM and NPO, alongside coverage from outlets including Billboard, Joya Mooi continues to carve a space defined by emotional precision and thoughtful songwriting.
All The Things ultimately reflects an artist choosing clarity over noise. Not by simplifying emotions, but by giving them room to unfold in their full complexity.
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