Our Mutual Friend, Suggestions 27/11/25
15 December 2025
Currently Listening to:
Joni, your album, “Things I Left Behind,” will be released tomorrow on April 11th. What can fans expect to hear?
That’s hard to distill down to a few sentences. I guess fans can expect to hear a good variety of songs because this album was a big subject to tackle, with it being centred around my first heartbreak and the subsequent feelings of loss. I was going through a lot of change and growth in a short amount of time, and I think that can be seen with the big spread of songs, sonically.
My producer and I had a phrase whilst creating the album, mouldy cream doughnut. That’s why my voice is sweet-sounding, we wanted to pull on listeners’ heartstrings, while the music feels a little off, a little mouldy. Nothing too perfect. That was how we guided the album regarding its sound.
Your voice on the record is quite child-like. Musicians often talk about healing their “inner-child” in terms of their emotional journey. Although that’s not quite what you were doing on the album, to what extent was your voice partly reflecting that process?
It’s funny because I have no idea how I sound – I just sing. You can’t judge your own voice, and I don’t think you can judge your own art too much. It’s always nice to hear outside perspectives, but for me it’s just my voice. It’s the only one I have!
What helped me was finding a producer who could hold up a mirror and show me who I am as an artist. That was important, because it’s difficult to create when you try and do everything yourself.
It feels like it alongside the healing process of your heartbreak. You were kind of on, like a developing process, musically. In terms of your music as well, particularly given that this is your first solo album. Did you, at any point, feel that these two journeys were happening at the same time?
I guess it’s funny because the person that I was with for a decade of my life, and who the album is centered around, was my producer who I worked very closely with. Alongside our personal relationship, we had a working relationship, too.
So, when everything fell apart I felt very lost within my own music. When you make music with someone you’re in a relationship with, the two of you begin to mould into one person, in a way. I lost a big part of myself – it took a while to get that back. I began to realise that my music wasn’t only good because of them. That was when I began to play songs on my own, acoustically, and people reacted well to them.
Acoustic songs can be very good at evoking raw emotions, and in your case with your acoustics they appear to reflect an understandable feeling of emptiness.
As I’ve said, making this album was very healing. I didn’t want to feel like all the pain that I had at the time was for nothing, so to take that pain and transform it was very satisfying. That’s not to say it didn’t take time – I didn’t immediately think to use this experience to start writing songs. I was very sad for a long time, but then I started to slowly write songs that would surprise me.
A lot of times in the past I would write songs from an outsider perspective, things that weren’t really my experience, perhaps as a protective mechanism. But, once I went through my heartbreak, I felt like an artist who had something to say. My songs started to have little details in them in a way that they didn’t before.
A lot of musicians rely on their personal pain to be able to create, but this seemed like a new process for you. Regarding the lyrical content, how was your approach different when making your album, compared to your collaboration days?
You know, it wasn’t a conscious decision. It wasn’t until after I had written the songs when I realised there was less of a wall up in the songs. One of the tracks on the album, Strawberry Lane, contains lots of details from real events in my life. The title is an actual address. Not to say that I wouldn’t have written that song in the past, but when I did, the words came out very easily.
Being American-born and now based in the UK, are familiar with the concept of leaving an old life behind and starting anew? If so, has that always shaped your music?
Growing up, my Dad was a submariner, so we moved around a lot – every two or three years. It was weird because every time you leave a place you can reinvent yourself and begin with a clean slate. I’d approach things as an outsider, too. When you move around a lot you learn to look at the world and see what it’s like, so I think I’ve always been observing things. But then, you start to write about other perspectives and things that you see as opposed to your own internal experiences.
London has given me another fresh start, which I needed after my heartbreak. I’m trying to stay more rooted now, and not run away when things go wrong!
As we’ve already spoken about, part of this album’s journey involved finding your own voice. Being a woman in the music industry, how important is that feeling to you?
I think women are less comfortable claiming their own space sometimes. I’ve co-produced a lot of music in the past, but I never felt comfortable enough saying that before. Perhaps personalities made me feel like I didn’t deserve to. Once I was on my own, it felt very empowering to make my own decisions. I became my own voice. Of course I had collaborators, but now I was the captain steering the ship. Being confident takes time – there’s a lot of big personalities in the industry.
What advice do you have for women entering the music industry?
You probably know more than you think you do. Don’t let fear hold you back. I think it’s much more common for women to have imposter syndrome. There will always be a dude who knows nothing but has crazy confidence and can muscle his way into a situation that you’re much more qualified for. I’ve seen this in life, not just music.
Finally, what exciting plans do you have in 2025?
Honestly, right now I can’t even see beyond tomorrow. That’s what’s occupying my mind right now. But, there are some shows I’m really excited to be playing in. I’m opening for one of my favourite artists, Hannah Cohen, in New York City later this month, and I’ll be playing at festivals. I’ll hopefully be writing, too. I’m ready to start again.
