Immersing us in a hybrid sound of ska and reggae, Joe Samba opens his latest release, Losing It (which also features The Elovaters) with the inviting lyrics “Hey Mr Sambo it’s slow come for fun for the Summer, I book a new room cos they shut down the other, so grab your things and jam for a dollar…”
Even though he opens the song with his old name, Reggae’s Billboard-charting rising star has actually changed his name from Joe Sambo to Joe Samba over concerns of racial insensitivity.
The song expands to deliver an exquisite and infectious Summer feel and positive vibes as Joe Samba takes us on an adventure, whilst teasing his new album which is set to drop on June 17!
We love Joe Samba‘s tone and energy, his uplifting and optimistic spirit as demonstrated perfectly in Losing It, although the hook of the song is quite introspective as he references too many things going on in his brain as he sings “I think I’m losing it…”
Joe Samba delivers conscious lyricism and we adore the feature from The Elovaters, specifically Jackson Wetherbee, which delivers additional uplifting dimension.
Speaking on the upcoming record as a whole, Joe Samba says, “The album pretty much describes all the different thoughts and emotions I was having from late 2019 when things started getting weird through all of 2020.”
The rising artist continues, “While having reggae undertones, the songs on the album are, individually, very different from each other …but each one tells its own story in a very unique way, either musically, lyrically, or melodically and contributes to the overall message behind the project, which is this idea that there are so many different versions of myself and so many different versions of how I express myself in being authentically and organically me.”
“Question your philosophies, the answers are your people” sings Joe in a profound way on Losing It, which is fused with a luscious and timeless soundscape of high energy fusion-reggae.
As an artist, Joe Samba holds a clear message of peace, love, and inclusivity, so changing his name, after he was critiqued at a show for being unaware of the racial sensitivities around the word “sambo”, was a no-brainer, and a gesture of love energy.
Speaking further on the name change, Joe says, “For all my fans, my music will be the same. I will still write from the same heart that’s beating in me, and I will promise to keep an open heart to all walks of life who listen.”
We love Joe Samba‘s invigorated and conscious energy and have added Losing It to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and have been immersing ourselves in Joe’s iconic discography including Create Something and I Love.