Spotify Saturdays with Singaporean Singer-Songwriter Joy Alexis

What better way to kick off the first edition of Spotify Saturdays during pride month than with Joy Alexis, local singer-songwriter who’s part of the queer community here in Singapore. Joy’s music encapsulates the raw emotions that we can all relate to—hauntingly beautiful and soulful.

With singles like “Sweet P” and “Lucid Dream” under their belt, the latest to join Joy’s repertoire is “Tonight”, which had just dropped on 29 May. Moving forward, Joy hopes to combine smooth electronic jazz, House, and a mixture of R&B and Soul into their music.

This week, we sat down with Joy on the five soundtracks that make up their life.

Tell us your name, and how you’d describe yourself to someone whom you’re meeting for the first time.

Hi I’m Joy Alexis, but you can call me Joy, or Kai! I’m a guitarist, Singer-Songwriter and an aspiring producer. Apart from music, I love design, and I hope one day I can find a way to fuse the two together.

What are the five tracks of your life?

This is actually really hard to decide because I literally love SO MANY artists so passionately. So all these were significant moments in my life.

1. More Than Words — Extreme
2. Honolulu — Last Dinosaurs
3. Every single Disclosure song (and the songs they have yet to release in the near future)
4. Sweet Time — Raveena
5. The Boy With The Incredible Brain (a documentary on Synesthesia)

Why would you consider this playlist to be significant to you?

All these songs represent firsts in my musical journey. In order, First song I learnt on the guitar, first time I discovered my love for Indie Rock, First time I discovered my love for Electronic Music, First time I listened to music and focused on the lyrics and meaning instead of the instruments, and lastly, first time i discovered that seeing music in shapes, numbers in colour, wasn’t a normal thing, but a neurological condition called Synesthesia.

Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. For me when I listen to electronic music in particular, I see the various elements in my head in what I call a soundscape. It’s a beautiful thing and it feels like magic! I hope one day I can show everyone what I see when I hear music! I know deep within me that this “superpower” I have is meant to help the greater good. I may not know now but I promise you I’ll find it one day!

Pick one track and tell me your fondest/most interesting memory of it.

Nothing beats “Bitter” by Charlie Lim when it comes to thinking about a track that really reaches into my soul. This song has sat with me through multiple breakups and I know it will always be the song that gets me in the feels.

But also, as Charlie says “was I tryna cash in the fantasy without the reality check”, helps me to come back down to earth when I am too high in fantasies and ideals. I love you Charlie!

If I had asked you this question 10 years ago, what is the one track that your then-self would have picked as your favourite? 

10 years ago I was 11, and ironically enough I didn’t even acknowledge music oops. I even once said that I didn’t wanna have any part of music again because in school they made us score twinkle twinkle little star on a computer! I mean c’mon! We didn’t even get to learn musical instruments!

But when I did, was when I was obsessed with RockBand! The song was Creep by Radiohead. Still love it as much as I did back then because it helped me to realise I need to let music into my life. Little did I know.

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