Gospel Highlights

Oftentimes, a great leap of faith can make all the difference when it comes to achieving a dream.  The minute that Joy Ike turned in her letter of resignation at her full-time job, her dream became an immediate reality.  She was bound and determined to place a stamp on this world as she knew God had called her to do.  And so far, there has not been one iota of regret on her behalf.

Ike, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native born to Nigerian parents, has faced several ups and downs along the way, struggling intensely to find her place in life.  As she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's degree in Communications and garnered a very successful career as a publicist, she always knew something was missing.  The burn deep within that God placed in her to sing to His glory became a smoldering fire, and Ike knew it had to be quenched.  Even with that, the vicissitudes of life would visit her doorstep, as they most often do.

Two months before releasing her debut album, Good Morning, she had the painstaking task of burying her brother, who tragically passed away at the young age of 29.  Even with the hurt and mournful state of such a loss, Ike pressed forward, with more tenacity than ever before to complete the assignment that was in front of her.  In one of the more open-hearted conversations you will ever read, Ike openly discusses how she dealt with the loss of her brother and the steps she had to take in order for her faith to be as strong as it is today. 

Gospel Highlights: I have been following your music for quite sometime, but I would like to introduce you to an audience of people who may not be as familiar.  Give us a rundown, if you could, about your music and career to this point.

Joy Ike: I put Good Morning out in June, 2008, shortly after I left my job to pursue music full time.  One of the ways to describe the music to people is just an expression or things that we go through.  Oftentimes, we are not open about our struggles with people.  I felt that like this [album] was about how we go through these dark seasons.  But, every morning is a chance to start new.  That is how it is with our lives.  Even though we have struggles, we are always given an opportunity to start over again and start fresh.  That was the main running theme throughout the [album].  A lot of the songs have to do with how do you fight through the circumstances that you are dealt out in your life and how do you come out as an overcomer.  And these songs have a lot more significance for me because my brother had just passed away two months prior to the release of the [album].

Gospel Highlights: I am so sorry to hear that.  But, as you stated earlier, the core message of your album is joy comes in the morning.  No pun intended! (laughs)

Joy Ike: (laughs) That is really what it is about.  I have been thankful a lot lately for the platform that God has been giving me, which is not to just sing in the Christian venues and churches.  [I am able] to go outside of the walls and play in clubs, coffee shops, art festivals and events where people do not really hear this kind of music.  I believe there is something very important in being able to make music that is culturally relevant, simply because you cannot reach people who want nothing to do with God if you do not come at them from where they are.  Sometimes, I get questions [from] Christians asking why I am not singing straight up gospel or obvious religious music.  But, it is important for me to make music that I like to listen to and music that I feel is relevant and can really meet people where they are.  Not music that meets them at a level that is way over their heads.  That is the main point of it.

Gospel Highlights: When people approach you with the question of why you have strayed away so obviously from traditional gospel or Christian music, what is the answer that you most often give them?

Joy Ike: I talk about my background.  I grew up in the Assemblies of God church during the early parts of my life.  Then, during the my teenage life, I grew up in a non-denominational church.  Both of those churches were wonderful, and I am thankful for my parents' faith and for how they have instilled that in me.  At the same time, I also grew up with the mentality that I was not supposed to associate with people outside of the church.  I thought that was the way things were supposed to go.  There was a “us and them” mentality in my head.  I did not realize that until I graduated from college.  I started trying to figure out who I was as a person and as a believer.  It was during those couple of years that I started realizing that I was living in this Christian bubble.  There is no way you can be a light in the world if you never in the world.  Of course, you are not supposed to be of the world, but you need to be in the world.  You need to be around people who do not know God and you need to be yourself.  You cannot always be trying to prove a point when you are around people.  We are supposed to show the love of Christ, and I am so thankful that I have that opportunity to do it through music, which is what I have been called to do.  It was a little bit aggravating for me for the first several years, after not being under my parents' covering.  I did not know who I was and I did not know what I believed in anymore.  It was through that time and those experiences that revolutionized how I looked at the world and gave me a passion to make music that both people in the mainstream and the Christian culture can relate to. 

Gospel Highlights: This is an album that you released without the help of a major label.  Talk about about the process of putting the album together and some of the challenges that you may have faced. 

Joy Ike: I began in the fall of 2007 with the whole recording process.  I would say that this is my first project where I really put my brains together with a sounds engineer and other musicians in the Pittsburgh area.  We wanted to come up with something that was not just songs, but well produced songs.  So, I worked with a sounds engineer for eight months and we brought on my sister, who plays hand drums for me.  I also had a bassist, a cellist and a violinist.  This was my first attempt to make an [album] how I want it to sound all the time.  It has a full band feel to it, and it kind of brings to life a lot of the songs that I have been singing for the past couple of years.  As far as the recording process, I think I have a love/hate relationship with the studio. (laughs)  Once I am in it, I am in it, but I do not like being in there unless I really want to get a project done. 

Gospel Highlights: Are you more comfortable being out in the open as opposed to being in the confines of a studio?

Joy Ike: Well, it is a little bit of both.  I have never considered myself a musician in terms of being a composer.  I am more of a lyricist.  I guess the reason why it is so hard for me to do the studio is because even though there are so many opportunities to keep editing things, it is hard for me to nail things down.  Especially when I am trying to come up with a raw sketch of what it is supposed to sound like.  I like the audience more because I get to engage with people, but at the same time, I do not know if anyone has ever seen me play perfectly.  One of my friends has a joke that says, “if you hit a wrong note once, it is a mistake.  If you hit it twice, it is jazz.” 

Gospel Highlights: Now, I know that you had to quit the job as a publicist to go after your singing career full blast.  How has that transition been so far?

Joy Ike: It has been a really good transition.  It is totally understood that if you are going to be a musician, you are going to take a major pay cut.  I saved for the actual [album] production and the duplication because I knew that would be a major expense.  But, I have no regrets with leaving my job.  I am excited just to be where I am.  It has been great to connect with people, work with other musicians, and to go to shows and see people's faces and know that they are coming out because they want to hear and support you. 

Gospel Highlights: Talk about the day of the show and what preparations are made before you hit the stage.

Joy Ike: It varies, depending on what type of show it is and where the show is going to be.  For example, the band that I play with does a show at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre every November.  It is a full band show, so we bring all the instruments from the [album] into a live setting.  So, it is like a five or six piece band.  We will practice a day or two beforehand and run through everything.  The day of the show, there is not really much going on.  Most of the preparation is done weeks beforehand, where we are really trying to get the word out.  The promotion is the biggest part of it.  The day of the show, two hours beforehand, I make sure that I am the venue, setting up everything.  I guess because I am so used to it now, I do not notice the preparation that goes into it.  In my mind, there is no real preparation, per se. 

Gospel Highlights: I have one final question for you.  With a medium such as this, it is key to understand that you never know who will read this and what circumstances those persons may be in.  With regard to losing your brother at such a young age, could you offer a word of encouragement to someone who may be going through a similar circumstance?

Joy Ike: A lot of times, we always think about why God does what He does, and I really wish I could figure that out in my brother's case.  That is something that I still think about all the time.  But, I think one of the things that I have really learned is that it is ok not to always be on your best game or to always have your game face on.  I think that is one of the things that put me off about Christians in general, because we always want to look like we have always have things together.  When it comes to really rough times in our life, I think it is really important to just be vulnerable around the people that we surround ourselves with.  Friends and family are really important to rely on their shoulders in order to bring us through.  When it comes to things like tragedy, and whenever you feel like you cannot mourn or be sad about something, I think that becomes a problem.  I think it is ok to deal with those issues of doubt because it is only in those times where you do let yourself experience that.  You start to realize why you believe what you believe.  I think people need to allow their foundation to be shaken sometimes.  There is a verse in the Bible that talks about everything that can be shaken will be shaken  (see Psalms 18:7), and only what is true and solid will be left standing.  So, let those things in your life shake a little bit, and when you let those things that you believe in be shaken up, it will wake you up and give you a more solid faith.

On the Web: JoyIke.com