Get to Know Grammys Best New Artist Samara Joy

Joy is just the latest member of her family to find success in the music world. According to NPR, her father is Antonio McLendon, a singer and bassist who spent several years touring with gospel star Andraé Crouch. McLendon's parents were also celebrated musicians: Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, singers in the famed Philadelphia group The Savettes.

If you've heard Joy's voice, you might be surprised to learn she's only been pursuing jazz for a few years. In an interview with NPR, she discussed her Jazz Studies work at Purchase College and her feelings of uncertainty around longtime jazz devotees.

"Everybody was really supportive, but I still had this feeling like, 'I don't know if I belong,'" she explained. "Because I didn't have this preconceived notion of what it's supposed to sound like. But as it turns out, that allowed me to be a sponge and just soak everything in."

Now, she cites jazz influences like Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan, while also acknowledging the different musical landscape today.

"I couldn't do this without that foundation that they've laid," she told NPR. "But I am 23, and I'm singing jazz in 2023, and I come from a different background than all of those artists. So I think that carrying on the tradition is progressing as you grow, and not being in a singular box."

Joy also has roots in musical theater, growing up performing in school musicals. Her first role was playing Erzulie, the goddess of love, in her sixth-grade production of "Once on This Island."

"I was scared about the acting part, because I was very shy — I still get that way sometimes," she told the New York Times. "But I wanted to sing, so I was like, 'We're going to learn these lines and try as best we can to get inside this character.'"

Joy is known both for performing her original songs and old-school jazz standards. When Essence asked her what her current favorite standard is, she cited one song in particular.

"[My favorite is] 'Round Midnight' [by Thelonious Monk]. John Hendricks — an amazing African-American lyricist and singer who unfortunately passed away — wrote these lyrics to the melody that I really just felt so connected to because of the imagery. It was painting a picture of this feeling of being in love, and I just really love things like that."

TikTok has played a major role in Joy's viral rise to fame, but she has a balanced take on staying grounded even in the world of social media.

"TikTok is hilarious. I love watching people create on it. It reminds me of Vine [with] everyday comedians just making skits and stuff like that. Or even finding great vocalists on it, too. It's amazing. But I wasn't sure if I had a place on it," she told Fast Company. "I was like, I gotta figure how to share and how to be a part of this world while still being myself and not letting it consume me or change what I do in order to be accepted by people on social media."

What's next for the newly-minted Grammy winner? Joy already has plenty of ideas.

"I'm looking forward to writing my own music in lyrics and exploring that on the next project, as well as collaborating with my family," she told Forbes. "I think it's very important that I share with everybody that, where I come from, where my roots and music stem from, everybody in my family sings. My dad sings and plays electric bass. They're all musicians. They're all creatives, and to highlight them as my inspirations in front of everybody, to put that on display, it's really important to me in the show. And the tours went so well. Every show was sold out. Everybody really enjoyed it. So I'm hoping to do that more often in the future, and hopefully, it will materialize into a holiday album."