Samara Joy’s ‘Linger Awhile’ Offers Timeless Standards For A New Generation
The album arrives alongside a music video for ‘Guess Who I Saw Today.’
On Samara Joy’s latest album Linger Awhile, the 22-year-old jazz singer provides timeless standards for a new generation. The project arrives as her debut as part of the Verve Records roster of artists.
In tandem with the album release, the singer has also shared a music video for “Guess Who I Saw Today,” a take on the classic Nancy Wilson track that recounts the story of an unfaithful lover. Joy stars in the melancholy black and white visual directed by Sontenish Myers.
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The album’s release was preceded by lead singles “Sweet Pumpkin,” which reimagined the 1960 tune from Ronnell Bright, and “Can’t Get Out Of This Mood,” notably performed in the past by Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra.
“There’s such an incredible and rich history of Black female singers. I see so much of myself in them and see the way they paved the way so I can do what I’m doing,” Joy told Andscape in a recent interview. “And then the way that they sing and the songs they sing, I can relate to and hopefully carry it and pass it down so that nobody forgets those Black female singers who have such an impact and influence on music as a whole.”
The influence shines throughout Linger Awhile as Joy blends old and new. On the album, the singer implements original lyrics across famous instrumentals using a style of music often referred to as vocalese.
“All the songs that I chose for my first album were standards that I’d learned in the previous couple of years when I was in school just gathering material,” Joy told What’s Up Newp in a separate interview. “Now I’m experimenting with some new material, it falls under the same vein of standards, just different ones that maybe people haven’t heard of.
