Explore JOA’s Dual Singles “Previous Problems” & “Golden Years” from Her Latest EP
Like a half-finished diary entry smeared by the grind of time, JOA’s Singles “Previous Problems” and “Golden Years”, off her EP “Previous Problem”, unfurl with the density of memories that are both evaporative and inescapable. Indeed the Oslo-born singer-songwriter does more than just write songs; she crystallizes the feeling of looking back at your younger self with both compassion and irritation, tracing the spiky contours of adolescence with a near-cinematic force.
Firstly, the single “Golden Years” is the slow exhale before the acceptance arrives. Swept in semitransparent production and muted vulnerability, it’s a song that hangs in the space between nostalgia and regret, capturing the painful beauty of youth slipping through one’s hands. JOA’s voice feels both fragile and confident, navigating melodies that throb with the quiet revelation of appreciating something too late. The track’s simplicity makes it both charming and limiting — its melancholic glow persists, but it never fully erupts into the catharsis it teases.
In contrast, Previous Problems operates on a tautness that has yet to be resolved, its shimmering synths and metronomic thump echoing the emotional whiplash of avoiding confrontation. JOA perfectly captures that art of pretending everything is fine when we know, somewhere beneath the surface, things are unraveling. There’s a mesmerizing duality in her performance — wistfully detached pop collision with the unsaid reality lurking below her lyrics. But its slick production, as seamless as it is, sometimes buffers the raw edges that might have given it greater gut-churning power.
JOA’s first EP reads more like a confessional than an album — one that aches, mends and haunts. It’s a reminder that the chaos of growing up does eventually fade, but its echoes are never truly gone.
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