Casi Joy has recently released her new track ‘Senses Fail,’ following a string of new single releases. Here, we interview Casi Joy about the single, her journey since The Voice and what’s next on the horizon.
Hi Casi, how are you? Congratulations on the new single, I feel like your music does keep getting better and better every time I hear new music. Can you talk a bit about it, I know it was a solo-write?
I wrote ‘Senses Fail’ by myself actually. It was on a subject that I really wanted to sit down and take my time with and kind of do some healing on my own – look within and all of that. I’m really proud of how it turned out, but I do I love co-writing, I always write with really good friends of mine and it’s always a therapy session or a laugh until you almost die session.
Do you find that with certain topics you need to dig into by yourself? Are there certain things which you save for co-writes to dig into with friends?
Absolutely! With ‘Namaste,’ that I released before ‘Senses Fail’ I had come up with that hook of ‘Namaste right here and drink,’ and I thought ‘I want to co-write this with someone and make a fun experience and get someone else’s vibe and perspective’. With a subject like ‘Senses Fail’ or ‘Macklyn Sky’ which was about a five year old fan that we lost in a car accident that was something that I didn’t really want to give that to anyone else.
Yeah, ‘Namaste’ is such a fun song. The music video just looked like so much fun to record. I was just watching it thinking that there’s so much joy in this, particularly post-pandemic, you’re kind of getting back into things and being around other people again to create.
The fact that I got to film that music video in my hometown at a bar that has been there since I moved there when I was five years old, that just made it even more special. My family was there, my high school friends were there. All these people who have been watching my career – my very first performance was on a stage right behind that bar. It was just such a special moment for me to have that full-circle moment.
You’ve been releasing singles every few months or so, is that the plan going forward? I thought it’s so nice to be able to let each single breathe and introduce a new side of you every time.
Absolutely, I’ve really enjoyed releasing single after single just to totally change vibe every time. I do think that on the horizon, there will be a bigger project in the works. I’ve been writing a ton for that and just doing a lot of touring as well.
I can imagine it’s so nice to be able to finally kind of play out songs live and also get some feedback because that’s quite often how you’d choose the singles – hearing that audience response, which must have been frustrating over the past year not having that?
Yeah, ‘Poor Angel’ I released during lockdown, so I didn’t get to perform that one or ‘The Money’ for a long time until like after it had been out. It was kind of different to not immediately have a release party where you play it live and you get back right away. It was definitely different. I really had to put a lot of trust in myself and my inner circle who I showed the music to.
How did you find that transition? I know a lot of people have spoken about finding Zoom co-writes very difficult because it’s not natural, you’re not feeding off people’s energies.
I actually never did any zoom co-writes, I know a lot of my friends did, but I do tend to write a lot by myself. ‘Poor Angel’ I wrote with my buddies Vince Alton and Bo Morgan, right before lockdown, I ended up releasing it after. So we did a zoom phone call to celebrate releasing.
I can imagine it’s been creatively frustrating.
Yeah, it’s definitely made us get more creative in other ways. We had to make this industry still work, so we got creative. We have a tour bus that we live in most of the time and so we started calling campgrounds and touring there, so we could take our home with us during COVID and keep a distance concert. It was a figure it out year and you could either sink or swim.
I mean, now we’re on the other side, which feels great. Your journey really started on ‘The Voice,’ what do you feel like you learned from that show? What did it give to your career other than the obvious exposure?
Yeah, you can’t buy that kind of exposure that was the icing on the cake. One of the biggest takeaways from the show was actually the vocal lessons that you get behind the scenes. I still use those vocal warm ups to this day, they saved my life and saved my voice, so I still use a lot of that and all the behind the scenes coaching you get with interviewing and makeup.
That must have been amazing, having a stylist on hand. Do you feel that your music changed as a response to the show, because you’re having to sing different songs and different material, and you’re kind of experiencing transforming songs from different genres? Do you feel that changed things?
It really helped me like hone in on my brand as an artist and how other people see me. I see myself as some like Lady Gaga/Carrie Underwood, I love classic country music, I think that’s definitely changed my writing style a little bit, it’s less poppy than some of the other country stuff that I have put out, so I do think it changed my path just a little bit.
So it’s brought out your true essence and your true inspiration rather than anything else, was classic country something you grew up with a lot?
Yeah, I started singing when I was five and then professionally when I was 10. My mom got me into the Midwest Opry circuit, which is just these little Opry shows around the Midwest, where you get to sing like five songs – anything from Patsy Cline to Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynette, all the classics. I think that’s where my sound comes from and a ton of my influences, those great, classic females.
I can hear that through your sound. I mean, obviously, it’s based in the present day, but you have that classic touch. Apart from getting out on the road again, what can we expect from you for the rest of the year?
Lots of touring, that’s going to be the main thing, making up for lost time, putting the bus to use. I’m working on a bigger project and just trying to spread joy wherever the music takes us.
Glad to hear that. Well, congratulations on the new single. I’m just so happy for you guys as well. I know how frustrating it’s been over the past year, being trapped indoors. It’s amazing to see people finally getting out on the live road again. Thanks for chatting to me today.
