Emily JoyEmily Joy is as cheerful as her name suggests. Dressed in bright colours and sequins, she exudes a glamorous confidence that extends far beyond her aesthetic into her music.
Based in Perth, Joy has been playing live music for over a decade, whether it be a festival slot, headline gig, or Taylor Swift tribute show.
Most recently, she’s released her latest single, One Step Ahead Of You. Though it has the same country pop sound as her previous releases, it’s got a lot more bite to it.
The song originated from a place of frustration with modern dating patterns, particularly men pursuing her and pulling back once she reciprocated interest.
“I’m not going to play a game back, I’m one step ahead of you – I can see what you’re doing,” Joy explains. "This song isn’t about playing games with guys, it is about taking your power back and knowing your worth."
Her writing process almost always begins as journal entries, where Joy shares both her most mundane and intimate thoughts and feelings. “I journal whatever I’m going through and then I can just hear some sort of a lyric or a hook or melody and I just start writing it down.”
The way she speaks so effortlessly about writing a song is a testament to her ability to do so. There’s no complicated formula or grand creative ritual; Joy lives her experiences, writes them down and lets the music follow. This process gives One Step Ahead Of You a sense of immediacy – the frustration is real, but instead of wallowing in it Joy turns it into something empowering.
Musically, she’s found a sweet spot between modern pop and the storytelling that lies at the heart of country music. “Combining those two elements is generally the music that I like to write, produce and put out into the world," she notes.
While Joy writes most of her own material, her recent releases have taken her across the globe.
For her last three singles, she’s worked with Nashville-based producer Kate Malone, who records with a session band in Nashville and sends the tracks back to Perth, where Joy then records her vocals with Troy Nababan, before sending everything back over to Nashville for mixing and then to New York for mastering.
It’s an elaborate process for an independent Australian artist, but it’s a process that Joy is strongly committed to. “I just want that authentic Nashville sound,” she explains. And she’s not planning on slowing down anytime soon. With studio time already booked in as we’re speaking, Joy points out she's, “just trying to be one step ahead of the game – pun fully intended.”
For an artist whose music is rooted in personal experiences, there’s something equally personal about the visual world Joy has created around herself.
Her socials are a riot of pink, sequins, and colour, a deliberate departure from the neutral-heavy aesthetic currently dominating fashion, specifically within the country scene.
“I’ve always gravitated towards bright, vibrant colours," she reasons. "I just feel like it represents my personality… My name is Emily Joy, and I feel like vibrant, sparkly things which are quite joyful.”
It’s a pretty perfect summary of the artist herself, but behind the sparkles is someone who has also become increasingly savvy about the business of being an independent musician. That’s particularly evident in Joy’s Taylor Swift-themed shows.
For years, she resisted the idea after her agents pointed out similarities: a tall blonde woman who plays guitar, sings country music and writes about ex-boyfriends. “Eventually, I found a way to still be Emily on stage and tell Taylor’s story," Joy notes.
Rather than impersonating Swift, Joy intentionally brings her own personality and experiences to the performance, occasionally throwing in an original song or two.
It’s become a very clever way of introducing herself to her target audience, and there’s plenty that she’s learned along the way. “She is the greatest teacher from songwriting to stage presence and business.”
Joy has been studying Swift since she was 16, and while she already knew the stories behind the music, putting the shows together gave her a unique opportunity to dig deeper into Swift’s stagecraft and performance techniques, as well as get to know the songs in a more intimate way.
It’s another example of how Joy can take an unexpected opportunity and make it work on her own terms, in a way that benefits her.
This approach has served her well in an Australian country scene that has changed dramatically since she first started gigging in 2015.
Back then, Joy says country music was still considered “dorky and non-mainstream, and uncool”, with agents telling her there was “no place for country music in the city.”
Fast-forward a little more than a decade and the landscape is unrecognisable. “It’s been a complete shift, and it’s a great time to be a country music singer,” Joy admits.
There are still challenges, particularly for independent Australian artists competing for radio and festival opportunities against heavily supported US acts. Joy believes the pendulum has currently swung towards American and label-backed artists, but hopes the continued growth of the Australian country scene will create a little more room and appreciation for homegrown talent.
For now, she’s keeping busy. Alongside working on new music, Joy has begun headlining theatre shows aboard Carnival cruises, performing her own music and telling her own story against some stunning tropical backdrops. It's an opportunity that Joy describes as being “really unheard of for cruise ship theatre shows”.
With around 40 flights already under her belt this year, taking her everywhere from Vanuatu and New Caledonia, to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, there’s little chance she’ll be staying still for long. An album isn’t on the immediate horizon either.
Presently, Joy is enjoying the freedom of the singles game, pouring everything into each release while leaving the door open for a bigger project down the track.
With a return to Nashville potentially on the cards, more cruise dates ahead and a brand-new single already in the works, Emily Joy is keeping things colourful, keeping things moving and staying one step ahead.
Emily Joy's One Step Ahead Of You is out now.
