R&B has been undergoing a paradigm shift. As has Neo-Soul. And if you consider those two fields to be one in the same, (you’re wonrg, but) so be it, because either way, a lot has been happening. The Golden Era of the 90’s where queen Aaliyah reigned supreme built a foundation that until recently hasn’t been properly drudged upon with respect towards the past while courageously exploring what will come to define a soul-tinged future. But over the past half-decade or so in particular, an explosion of vibrantly talented vocalists and producers have come to ring in a new era that will one day, too, be looked back on for its golden sheen. And wouldn’t you know it, a half-decade ago, West Coast soulstress, Joyce Wrice began releasing music of her own. Now, in 2021, the modern R&B scene and soulscape are blooming with a seemingly endless exploration of stylistic vibrancy, and above all else, is Overgrown with the debut album from Joyce Wrice.

 

There’s a good chance you’ve heard Joyce Wrice’s voice before. Her delicate high tones, powerful range, and emotion evoking songwriting strokes have been gracing the presence of mostly other artists for years. In 2017, her additions to Get It from Rejjie Snow’s celebrated The Moon & You brought a necessary softness to an album otherwise hard-nosed and darkly poetic. In 2019, she found her way onto rising Golden Era R&B revivalist, Devin Morrison’s debut, Bussin’, while later in the year leaving her mark on the self-titled debut album from the collaboratively boundless band, The Free Nationals. Across music’s stylistic spectrum, she’s floated for years leaving behind the pillars of melodically liquid love, lust, and loss through the effortless emotion in her register. Through hip-hip, Neo-Soul, Funk, and even a ubiquitous feature on Korean pop vocalist, L’s Lookin 4 along with Devin Morrison, she’s voyaged far and wide not only leaving her mark, but building her own repertoire of skills and sharpening her stylistic transcendence with which to use in the curation of a first collection. It’s obvious now that Overgrown bleeds of the mark of a master, and that her half-decade spent as an R&B journeyman all the while honing her craft has made for one of the most refined debuts in memory.

 

True to her rangy roots, Overgrown brims without any boundaries of stylistic scope. And perhaps a play at her own sweet time taken in its release at last, the album’s name, too, is an admission that all of her time exploring music has left her own musical prowess vining over the fence to continually seek nourishment in newness. Here, Overgrown basks in its sunny stylistic transcendence.

 

“…this music is a result of me tending my garden. My garden, my emotions, and my thoughts are full of a variety of colorful flowers but they were overrun by weeds. These sessions and collaborations were opportunities for me to do my gardening and create value from everything that I was going through.”

 

Joyce’s is a special, sunshiny kind of R&B, sure. But all of the highs in her songwriting and vocals are balanced by long struggles as both an artist and as a person, refining who she is and the kind of auditory aesthetic that captures that persona with honesty and vulnerability. Through the long and storied tenets of soul music, she seemingly can’t help but infuse her sound with a beachy grey area spanning old-school soul and a new take on the most transcendentally indefinable of spectrums. It emerges as something both Golden-Era reminiscent, perfect for the staticky imperfections of vinyl, and simultaneously trailblazing towards a soulful future.

 

One glance up and down the list of featuring artists, and the lofty range with which she transcends both style and epoch comes into focus. In near-order of appearance: dream-weaving Lucky Daye who in many ways is counterweight in modern R&B to Wrice’s own exploding stance; hard-nosed lyrical force Freddie Gibbs who has shown an ever-increasing affinity for stepping outside of pure rap and into new roles as he does in Overgrown; old-school reminiscent Westside Gunn whose register is unmistakable and fervently of any era he chooses; super-producers ESTA, KAYTRANADA, and Mndsgn who’s roles do nothing short of define a project’s most detailed and immersive identity; Masego – the genius; Devin Morrison – the ultimate Golden Era revivalist and emerging prince of R&B; and UMI – fellow soul-slinging queen redefining modernity through her own remembrance of the past.

 

And yet, even through the unparalleled 2021 web of names that Overgrown is overflowing with, there isn’t a moment that doesn’t scream from the rooftops that Joyce Wrice not only belongs in conversation with them – belongs on a project with them – but is the kind of explosive talent that every single one of these modern hip-hop and R&B legends flocked towards.

 

Joyce Wrice’s vocals are crystalline. They wistfully breathe through the epochs of more than just R&B, but also through all the eras of Soul. Alongside names from That’s On You feature and friend UMI to other modern R&B queens established and up-and-coming from Snoh Aalegra and Mahalia to Nashville’s Yours Truly, Jai, the reminiscence in Joyce Wrice’s music begins first with her register. Alongside Lucky Daye, Falling in Love bleeds of its title, and brings to mind timeless duets à la Tammi & Marvin. Alongside Freddie Gibbs with On One, the same can be said of a beckoning towards Mariah and ODB. Her voice is simply that powerful enough to transcend time; her collaborators chosen perfectly to drive a listener backwards through R&B and Soul’s illustrious pasts, yet forwards to a future bound to be as influenced by Joyce Wrice as she is by her predecessing soulstresses.  

 

And that eventual influence – as with everything R&B since the beginning – harps on a sliding scale of relatability and emotionality. Overgrown was grown from the heart – often from the heart at its lowest point. And from the heart – and subsequently the soul – Joyce Wrice’s timeless Soul is Overgrown with an understanding of music and human emotion in permanent harmony.