JOY CROOKES - SKIN
Skin is every bit as complex and enticing as Joy Crookes hinted it would be, and these thirteen tracks are an evocative introduction for those unfamiliar with the Crookes universe.
Skin is every bit as complex and enticing as Joy Crookes hinted it would be. These thirteen tracks are an evocative introduction to the singer, for those unfamiliar with the Crookes universe. An expansion of previous fan favourites such as ‘Two Nights’ (referenced on ‘Trouble’) and ‘London Mine’, Crookes’ city home once again is identifiable across tracks; from the ‘19th Floor’ of her childhood home to the Brixton backdrop of ‘When You Were Mine’.
Crookes doesn’t shy away from UK politics either; ‘Kingdom’ was written the day after the 2019 general election, flushed with the strong sense of disenfranchisement and frustration felt amongst British youth. The album’s lead single, ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’, explores white privilege and performativity on an album bathed in questions of identity and belonging. And of course, ‘Power’ – an old track, it has been stripped to the bones and reconstructed with a new hair-raising gravitas and air of command.
Intimate moments are scattered all over the album; the softly spoken words in the introduction to ‘To Lose Someone’, the sound of an elevator transitioning into ‘19th Floor’. ‘Skin’, ‘Unlearn You’, and ‘To Lose Someone’ display a rich vulnerability we have rarely been shown before (perhaps only on ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and ‘Since I Left You’). “Can I cross you out and unlearn you / from my body?” She sings on the refrain of ‘Unlearn You’, a track confronting her experience of sexual assault and abuse. The title track, ‘Skin’, discusses mental health, on which she sings, perhaps most importantly: “the skin that you’re given / was made to be lived in / you’ve got a life [worth] living.”
Now officially a UK Top 5 charting album in its first week of release, Crookes’ debut has placed her alongside greats such as Adele, Coldplay, and The Beatles.
Francesca Dunlop
★★★★★