Long before Casi Joy crooned through LeAnn Rimes‘ 1996 hit “Blue,” a song first written and released by Bill Mack in 1958, during her Blind Audition on The Voice in 2017, the Kansas City, Missouri native already had plenty of years of experience performing on stage behind her. By the age of 5, she was singing Alabama’s 1993 song “Angels Among Us” in talent shows, and prior to her Voice run, which ended after her elimination in the Playoffs round with a performance of Chris Stapleton‘s “Parachute, she released her debut single “The Way” in 2013.
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Releasing more singles leading up to her season 12 run on The Voice, Joy also released a number of holiday and cover albums before centering back to her own songs and stories on her 2023 debut album Miles & Maybes.
The 14-track album is a testament to Joy’s musical journey, and balladry, from the opening “Under the Hood” through more pensive narratives like “Me, Myself & My” and “Poor Angel” through the soulful brinks of “Business of Breaking Up” and “Senses Fail” with “Everything’s Fine” leaving Miles & Maybes off on more optimistic notes.
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Along with Walker, Joy wrote four of the tracks herself with the remainder co-written with Justin Klump, Lauren Talbert, Danny Mitchell, and Jeff Middleton. Deanna Walker also helped Joy collect thoughts about her father on the more sentimental “Hey Dad,” a heartfelt letter from a daughter to her father.
“I had started on that one a little over a year ago when I was working on a song for my dad’s birthday,” shared Joy in a previous statement. “I kept getting stuck because I hadn’t quite figured out what I was really trying to say.” After connecting with Walker and learning of her own relationship with her father the song had more substance. “This song is all the things I’ve always wanted to say to my dad, but being that I’m his clone, I have a hard time telling people how I feel,” added Joy. It’s always been easier for me to put those feelings in a song, and I’m so proud of how this one turned out.”
Joy recently spoke to American Songwriter about making music after The Voice, which she called “training for the real-life chaos,” writing now, and discovering some “vampire vibes” on Miles & Maybes.
American Songwriter: Miles & Maybes took several years to work out. When did it all start coming together?
Casi Joy: There were about four songs on the album, maybe more that I had previously released as singles, gearing up for the album that I knew I would eventually be releasing. “The Money,” “Senses Fail,” and “Namaste” were all out. These songs are over a three-year span of what I’ve been going through and taking from what other people have been going through these past three years, so it’s a very all-encompassing, rollercoaster of emotions.
AS: Miles & Maybes stirs a distinct set of emotions with more heartfelt songs like “Hey Dad” and “Poor Angel.” What did you intentionally want to hear running through Miles & Maybes?
CJ: I tried to make it where you get to have this moment. I think “Me, Myself and My” and “Poor Angel” are right next to each other, and I like that because “Me, Myself and My” can put you into a dark place. Sometimes I think that’s okay to just sit in those dark moments, so I put “Poor Angel” right after that one because if you’re in that space, you need a little more time to sit and process those emotions that you might be feeling. I wanted to give them a double dose of the darkness and then you get to be brought back up. I hope that by the end of “Poor Angel,” you get kind of pulled out of that and know that there’s some light at the end of the tunnel and that we get to dance again.
AS: Were there any specific links between the songs that surprised you?
CJ: It’s more raw and deep. I got with some subjects I had never talked about, like “Life of My Party.” I went back and forth on whether I wanted people to hear that song. I am so proud of it, but I didn’t know if I was ready to be that vulnerable with the subject of whether it’s the right time to start a family or not, and feeling the pressures of being a woman in the industry with having a family or not having a family. I surprised myself with some of those raw topics.
AS: Thinking back to Love on Repeat (2015 EP), are you the same songwriter you were nearly 10 years ago?
CJ: My writing style has totally changed. When I wrote Love on Repeat, most of those songs were solo written except for “Repeat on Repeat.” But I wrote most of that EP off of drum loops that I found, and that’s how I was writing music at that time—starting with a rhythm, then writing what wraps around it.
With Miles & Maybes, I did a lot of co-writing to try to find a new sound and newer perspectives from other writers, and I’m so glad that I did. It’s definitely changed how I write songs, just seeing how other people write.
AS: Were there any songs that transformed from demo once you hit the studio?
CJ: “Low Brow Luxe.” I wasn’t even considering putting that on the album. I sent all the possible songs that I was considering, and the team kept picking that one out, so we brought it to the studio, and my guys just blew it out of the water. The entire vibe changed. The demo of the song is all piano. It’s just a cute little bouncy, quiet piano song. When we brought the band in, I felt like it turned into True Blood country. It’s got vampire vibes to me.
Even the title changed. The file name for it on my computer was originally “High-Class Trash.”
AS: Speaking of titles, where does Miles & Maybes fit into all of this?
CJ: Those words, miles and maybes, there’s nothing more that could encompass my entire journey. We’re constantly on the road and traveling, even if it’s not literal miles traveled. We’re going through so many seasons and everything changes so fast. We travel all these miles, all on this promise of these maybes, and for me, the “maybes” represent hope. And that’s what keeps us traveling all these crazy unknown miles.
AS: With all the outpouring and incoming of performing live, what have you learned being on the road the past few years?
CJ: Performing these songs out live has made me feel even more comfortable with myself. My name is Casi Joy, but I’m not always full of joy. This album was an opportunity to let down my walls, pull the curtain back a little bit, and show people that even if you’re showing this highlight reel and your Instagram looks incredible, we are all going through something. That’s why music is so important to me.
I’ve seen on the road how impactful that can be and how one person standing on a stage with a microphone if you use that for good, can lift people up and bring people together and let people put their own walls down. That’s the reason for doing this whole thing.
AS: This album is your most personal to date Are you finding it easier to dig deeper for these stories now?
CJ: It’s almost harder not to. I used to find myself trying to write stuff and thinking “Is that too deep?” Now, it’s hard to put the lid back on. I just want you guys to know it all, because we’re all feeling the same things, and someone’s got to say it.
The reason music is so important is because there’s always a song to sit with anybody in any sort of situation they’re going through and in any emotion, and I want to be a part of that. I want to write more of those songs that can be there for other people. And it’s therapy for me just to write them.
AS It’s a wonderful thing, writing something and sharing with with someone else. There’s something always magical in that give and take.
CJ: That’s the journey of the song.
Photo: Darren Paltrowitz / Courtesy of Plana Media
