Typically, Joy Crookes uses her groovy tracks (including “I Know You’d Kill” and “Mathematics“) to address romantic highs and lows.
Today (May 16), Joy turned her pen inward. On her latest single, “Carmen,” Joy outlines her emotional battle with confidence. In the official video, Joy tackles the vicious cycle of chasing beauty standards.
“I just wanna pay you attention / Any god would offer you heaven / Oh, I wanna know what that’s like / I wanna be wanted like Carmen / Everybody’s throwing their heart in / Girl, you’re such a beautiful problem / I can’t take you off of my eyes / I wanna be wanted like Carmen,” sings Joy on the chorus.
Throughout the visual, Joy forgoes her God-given beauty for what society tells her is “better.”
On the track’s second verse, Joy is the most emotionally vulnerable, singing: “Brown skin European with my London Eye / I get envious of that vanilla type / You go classic like Coco Chanel / Is it bad I want that for myself / Five on it, so stunning, go lightly, like you do / Girl, I see it, goddamn pleasers, ain’t no mountain you don’t move / You crash in, I’m the casualty / What about me? When do I get to be Carmen?”
Eventually, Joy learns that she was always beautiful.
Watch the “Carmen” video above.
