Unguarded, wholly realised and entirely his own – Wesley Joseph’s long-awaited debut album sees the singer, songwriter, producer and director at his most confidently vulnerable, expressing the many layers of his creative life journey. The result is Forever Ends Someday: 13 tracks of self-examination cut with expansive escapism. On the Danny Brown feature “Peace of Mind”, meanwhile, Joseph blasts through his anxieties and delivers a bass-rattling anthem with confidence and reassurance, “July” finds Joseph collaborate with Jorja Smith as the pair perform a rejoiceful callback, recorded in their hometown of Walsall, reminiscing on how far they’ve come, as well as all they have lost. Three years in the making, Joseph took time away from the spotlight to find his story, choosing to pursue the honesty of his art rather than capitalising on career momentum - with highlights including a sold-out headline date at London’s KOKO and a sold-out North American tour. “I just treated the record like a vessel, throwing things into it from my life all the time,” he says. The title Forever Ends Someday refers to the fleeting beauty of the present moment – “the idea that when you’re young things will last forever but then you grow up to realise youth is borrowed,” Joseph explains – the album’s tracks depict an honest reflection of human experience through both the light and dark. Recorded between London, Walsall, Los Angeles and “halfway up a mountain in Switzerland,” Joseph enlisted a core team of collaborators and co-producers to execute his vision over the three years of writing. He worked closely with composer Nicholas Jaar (The Weeknd, FKA Twigs), who lent his soundscaping sensibility to several tracks, producer Harvey Dweller (Loyle Carner, Joy Crookes), Mercury Prize-nominated Tev’n (Rina Sawayama, SBTRKT), A. K. Paul (Nao, Fabiana Palladino), Al Shux (JAY Z, Kendrick Lamar, SZA), Ryan Raines (Paul McCartney, Dominic Fike) and producer Romil Hemnani (Brockhampton). From Walsall to the world, Forever Ends Someday shows that Joseph’s legacy has only just begun.
