Interview: Joyeur
By Saara Laidlaw
Joyeur, female pop duo comprised of Russian-Israeli producer and classic pianist Anna Feller and Angeleno singer-songwriter Joelle Corey. The pop duo resides in Los Angeles where the two first met. The two take inspiration from other female artists and producers in the industry, such as Florence Welch. Joyeur's fully self-produced and self-written debut EP LIFEEATER is set to be released on October 5th 2018, with live shows on the horizon as well.
How did you pick which individual songs were going to make it onto the upcoming EP?
Being a duo, there has to be overlap in what excites and inspires us. So really it’s finding that moment where lighting strikes, the stars align and we both feel it. For all of the songs that made it to this EP, we could just feel that they belonged together.
The music video for “Fast As You Can” has been recently released. What was the artistic inspiration behind the music video?
We all fall victim to the limitless access we have to each other’s lives. This is only heightened by unrequited love. It can be an ugly yet relatable experience to stalk someone’s Instagram and find yourself scrolling until you reach their trip to Tahiti 5 years ago.
In the same way, we decided to play with the fine line between the cute yet disturbing aspects of the modern crush. The video is really a mirror for our internal experience with desire. What our brain looks like on love can be a scary, obsessive place and we wanted to have fun with that. Visually, we wanted vibrant, playful color to contrast with and disguise the creepy concept behind the lyrics.
As songwriters do you prefer writing alone or having someone there to bounce ideas off of?
It’s a little of both. We spend time alone with the songs and come together to take them further. We never write in our own bubbles for long, but we both do need time to develop our own ideas individually for sure.
The two of you wrote, recorded and produced all of your tracks, what did the creative process for that look like?
We’re so lucky that we have a home studio where we can write, record, jam, etc. It really take our ideas from infancy to birth ourselves! We can just turn on the computer and everything is ready to go. We can jump on the mic or start a beat as soon as an idea is formed. It’s really important to us that our studio has everything we need to have a high quality product without leaving the room. This EP, for example, everything was done in our private studio from start to finish. We really love that because it makes us so connected to our music.
Joyeur represents an up and coming generation for female creators in this industry, what’s one piece of advice you’d give your female fans breaking into the music scene?
Nothing is pre-written. Don’t pursue the opportunities you think are just suitable for you. Pursue the opportunities you want. Educate yourself. Do it yourself and don’t be afraid of possessing power for the sake of keeping those in power happy.
What are your earliest memories of music as a kid?
J: It might not be my first memory of music, but my parents would go to traveling Broadway shows here in LA and bring home the cast albums. I memorized the songs to The Phantom of The Opera and Showboat by the time I was 7 and sang them into a living room lamp that resembled an old microphone.
A: When I was 4, my sister would sit at the piano and make up sad songs about my favorite cartoon characters. It made me so upset. I would cry my eyes out. That was her form of amusement!
Who typically creates your singles art?
We’re pretty hands on with the process. With our graphics, we usually mock the concept and let the professionals handle the rest! Our good friend Chris Westlund helped us with the “Fast As You Can” single cover, which was actually a still taken from the video shoot. For the EP, we brought a concept to our photographer and good friend, Jessica Chanen, to shoot.
If you both could sum up the EP in one word what would that word be?
Red-blooded
What’s the emotion that your band tries to put across for fans? Through lyrics and on stage?
We really just want people to feel bold and free when listening to our music. It was an eye-opener to listen back to the EP and hear the common themes of yearning, power, desire and sexuality found in all of our songs. We want our music to bridge the gap between vulnerability and power and take away the notion that those things have to be inherently male or female.
Being a spunky modern pop female duo, what would you say are the pros and cons that you have faced in the music industry?
We’ve experienced some weird moments, but unfortunately it’s not limited to the music industry. We’ve had people test us and wait for us to reveal that somehow there’s a mystery man behind the curtain calling all the shots and actually producing us. It’s honestly amusing. That’s a con in the way that it’s lame to experience those seemingly outdated redundancies, but also sort of a pro because we consistently get to prove people wrong.
To be fair, we have also met so many allies and supporters and feel so grateful to be women during a huge shift in the balance of power.