Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic

## **Singles from *Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic***

1. "Lonely"
Released: 9 October 2020
2. "Celebration"
Released: 9 December 2020
3. "Number One"
Released: 8 January 2021
4. "Door"
Released: 3 February 2021

> We stopped at the waterfront and then I asked him, 'Yo, what do you think we should name this album?' Oxygen Mix looked around and was like, 'Somewhere Between Beauty and Magic'. I said, 'Yeah sure, beauty and magic. The album signifies love, the production and the beats are magical, let's call it beauty and magic'. Oxygen Mix was like, 'Nah, Somewhere Between Beauty and Magic, somewhere in the middle'. To me, it felt really deep, so we went with it. Big shoutout to Oxygen Mix, I think he's going to be naming all my projects.
>
> Joeboy's recollection of how the album's name came to be

***Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic*** is the debut studio album by Nigerian singer-songwriter Joeboy. It was released on 3 February 2022, through Banku Music and emPawa Africa.

## Synopsis

"It's always been my spread good vibes through music", Joeboy tells Apple Music. "Love is the theme of this project—it's the perfect blend between beauty and magic". Blending Afropop beats with classic instrumentation, his first studio album takes an earnest journey through various love stories—from gaining confidence to reach out to the girl next door ("Lonely"), to recovering from unrequited love ("Focus"), and even navigating the beauty of boundaries ("Consent"). Yet the mood here remains light-hearted and celebratory as Joeboy showcases his versatility ("OH"), and he grows ever more self-assured ("Count Me Out").

## Background

Joeboy estimated it took around five months to create the record. Initially it was supposed to be out on 30 October 2020, though #EndSARS broadcast over social media, and he decided to push back the date to focus on the movement.

During the creation process, his hard-drive malfunctioned, and it resulted in him re-recording ten of the songs. He recalled, "I was at a recording camp for my next project when I found out. I was quite upset for a second not gonna lie, but *problem-no-dey-finish* as I like to say so I just started re-recording the songs immediately. It was difficult because I had to replicate the vibe I was in when recording those songs and fortunately, the songs even came out better". He added, "The songs definitely sounded better, I re-recorded some of the songs more than once just to get to a better sound than the original and take it back to the moment that inspired me to sing it. So if a song came from pain, I had to think back to how deep that pain was just to ensure that the feelings were heard through the music". He named his favorite track from the LP to be "Count Me Out".

## Title

He informed *1883 Magazine*, "The name *Somewhere Between Beauty and Magic* was actually my sound engineer's (Oxygen Mix) idea. After recording in Ghana, the album was almost 80 percent done and then we went quad biking at Aburi Hills in Ghana, we were at a waterfall and I asked him 'What should we name the album' then he looked around and said, 'Somewhere Between Beauty and Magic'. (He named my first EP *Love & Light* too by the way). Overlooking the beauty of that waterfall provided a moment of reflection for me. I thought of how far I've come and reflected on the adversities I've had to overcome, being a young guy from Nigeria trying to win against all odds, it was definitely a name that stuck. Also the songs on the album are beautiful and magical too".

In another source, he stated, "You know the first project was *Love and Light*. I spoke with Oxygen Mix—my mixing engineer—about what we should name the next project. When we were in Ghana riding quad bikes somewhere, Oxygen was like this place is beautiful. 'Let's call it somewhere between beauty and magic'. Another reason why we settled on the name is because the album consists of songs that are about different parts of love. Love is beautiful. Love is magic. These were songs I made with those influences. There are 14 songs on the album but for the singles before the album, you put out "Lonely" and "Celebration". Many would wonder why you chose those songs as the forerunners. It just felt like the right time to put out those songs, and it was just the way I was feeling at that particular point. Because last year was really wild for everybody, for me personally as well. I just started enjoying last year around December. Also, there was so much negative energy on social media, it was crazy so that is why I decided to put out those songs".

## References

1. ↑ Askin, Christian (4 February 2021). "Joeboy on Beauty, Magic, and Being Africa's Popstar". *Pan African Music*.
2. ↑ Adebayo, Yusuff (23 October 2011). "Joeboy: People Think I'm from East Africa Due to Popularity of My Music There". *New Telegraph*.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Forrest, Eleanor (4 February 2021). "Joeboy". *1883 Magazine*.