Joy Crookes

At the age of 17, Crookes released her debut single "New Manhattan" in February 2016,[13] as well as "Sinatra" in August 2016,[14] and "Bad Feeling" in June 2017.[15] "New Manhattan" is a love song that was named after the area in Brussels.[16] M Magazine wrote about Crookes at the start of her career, stating, "[She] may not be out of school yet, but what she lacks in experience she certainly makes up for in sonic dexterity."[17] When describing the aesthetic in Crookes' debut music video for "Sinatra", Pip Williams from Line of Best Fit wrote, "much like [her] sound, [the video] blurs the classic with the contemporary, blanketing the listener in nostalgia whilst teasing them with hints of something brand new."[18]

Crookes released her debut EP, Influence, with Speakerbox and Insanity Records in July 2017.[19][20] The five-track EP lasts less than 20 minutes and features "Sinatra", "Bad Feeling", "New Manhattan", "Mother May I Sleep With Danger?" and "Power".[19] Crookes performed "Mother May I Sleep With Danger?" along with her guitar player Charles J Monneraud on the global music platform, COLORS, in December 2017.[21] As of November 2019, the video gained over eight million views on YouTube.[21] She told BBC that she wrote the song by herself on New Year's Day of 2017 and began playing the song on tour, stating "When you tour a song you get to know it - you stay over at its house, you meet its mum, you get to know the sibling it doesn't like. So by the time we did Colors, it was a walk in the park. The video really changed everything. For about six months after that, everywhere I went people would say, 'Are you Joy from Colors?'"[11]

Crookes released the single "Don't Let Me Down" with an accompanying music video in November 2018,[22][23] before releasing her second EP, Reminiscence, in January 2019.[9] Clare O'Shea from The Line of Best Fit described the EP as "a collection of five distinct tracks melding pop, R&B and soul."[9] The EP features "Man's World", "Lover Don't", "Don't Let Me Down", "For a Minute" as well as the song "Two Nights",[24] which was added to the BBC Radio 1 playlist in February 2019.[25] Crookes made her first appearance in Vogue in March 2019,[26][27] before releasing the singles "Since I Left You": "a hauntingly stripped back break-up song,"[28] as well as "London Mine" in April 2019. "The song celebrates the invisible people and how London belongs to no one but everyone," Crookes told The Line of Best Fit about "London Mine". "It's a celebration of immigrants who make up this country."[29]

Crookes performed on the Introducing Stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2019,[30] before releasing her third EP, Perception, on the eve of June 2019.[31] The five-track EP features "Hurts", "No Hands", "London Mine", "Since I Left You" and "Darkest Hour".[24] Crookes made her first Glastonbury Festival appearance in June 2019.[32][10] In September 2019, Crookes self-produced released "Yah / Element" a medley of "Yah" and "Element" by Kendrick Lamar, before announcing her sold-out[33] headlining tour of Europe for October 2019.[34][35] She released the single "Early" with Irish hip-hop artist Jafaris in early October,[36] which later went on to reach No. 1 on the UK Asian chart. Crookes made her debut television appearance when she performed "Early" with Jafaris on Later... with Jools Holland in November 2019.[37] Crookes made an appearance on the Irish music TV series Other Voices in November 2019.[38] Crookes was shortlisted for Rising Star Award at the 2020 Brit Awards.[39] She was placed fourth in Sound of 2020, an annual BBC poll of 170 music critics who predict breakthrough acts for the coming year.[11][40] Crookes was praised her for her "South London stories filled with wit and romance".[40]

In April 2020, Crookes released her first single of 2020, "Anyone But Me", which debuted atop the UK Asian Top 40.[41] The song is about her battles with mental health and how she feels that "there's another person living in [her] head."[11][42] Crookes told BBC that she would be releasing her debut album before her "self-imposed deadline" of May 2020.[11]