Having established herself as one of the finest voices in contemporary soul and R&B with her multi-platinum selling 2003 debut, The Soul Sessions, Joss Stone has now returned with a brand new set of powerful songs titled Water for Your Soul.
Musically, Stone’s seventh studio effort incorporates reggae and hip-hop with influences from many different genres, including soul, R&B, world, gospel, Latin, and even some Indian and Irish influence.
To learn everything there is to know about Stone’s latest album, we got the woman herself to take us through the record track by track, offering some fascinating insights into the journey that brought her to Water for Your Soul.
1. Love Me
The song love me is a message really. A message to “Mr X”. I’m going to call my boyfriend “Mr X” because I’m not going to tell you who. You know, we go through life, we have all sorts of different relationships, whether it be with your friend or with your boyfriend – some of them good, some of them bad.
And this is me kind of asking said boyfriend, “Mr X”, to treat me well and love me in a beautiful way. I wrote this song with Damien Marley and his lovely band in LA actually with his wonderful rhythm section. They were wonderful! So yeah – really enjoy singing it!
2. This Ain’t Love
This song This Ain’t Love is about being with somebody, that you know that you’re not in love with them. They are a huge pain in the arse. They know they’re not in love with you. Turns out I was wrong about that!
But, you know in the moment, I felt like “…ugh! This is stupid, why are we in this relationship with each other when we just hate each other. What is the point?” That’s basically This Ain’t Love.
3. Stuck On You
Stuck On You is about being stuck in a relationship with somebody you wish you weren’t in relationship with. More so, about being stuck in love with them. You don’t want to be in love with them, but there is nothing you can do about it.
Tough shit – you are. And you know, from my perspective that’s really what it was. And these are our ups and downs in relationships and this was one of those down days in a way, where you felt at a loss. But also in the past, you know, I’ve had much, much worse relationships and much worse things to deal with.
And I find women that are in abusive situations – they can’t leave. Why can they not leave? Because they are stuck. They’re stuck in love. So they have to free themselves. You don’t have to be stuck. You have to choose not to be. It is your choice.
So that’s this song, ‘Stuck On You’. I hope you enjoy listening to it, and I hope you enjoy listening to the instrument that is the Sarod – which is an Arabic instrument played by a chap from Bengor named Shomic – that’s a beautiful sound and I enjoyed listening to him play it. So umm yeah… hope you like it!
4. Star
So I wrote this song ‘Star’ after having a very heated discussion around my kitchen table – and that happens a lot in my house! About, you know, the government, the state of our country… You know, the stresses and worries of life.
A lot of moaning goes on I find, and I find it sooo annoying. Especially when I have been travelling around the world a little bit and seeing some dire situations and people smiling through them. So, you know, this moaning thing kind of sparked off the idea for ‘Star’.
It’s, you know, give me strength don’t give me grief. Don’t speak of these negative things when there’s so much positive stuff to talk about right in front of us! You walk outside your front door – and I don’t care where your front door is – if your front door is in England, you are lucky!
5. Let Me Breathe
‘Let Me Breathe’ is a song I wrote when I was in the midst of an awful break up. It would have been easier if he was a bastard. It would have been easier if he had cheated, or if he was a horrible soul.
Then I would have been able to breathe. And that’s really what the song’s about. It’s not about someone suffocating you, or being there too much or too often… Or, you know, giving you too much love, or anything like that!
I mean, listen past the chorus into the verse and it will explain. It’s actually me wanting that particular guy to be horrible to me so then I could move on easier.
6. Cut The Line
‘Cut The Line’ is about communication. I do think that most relationship issues that come to us come from having a lack of communication, or not being able to “get” each other.
Even if you talk all day long, if you’re not speaking in that person’s language – you know, even if it’s physically or emotionally – you must try to get on the same page as the person you are trying to speak to.
You must know your audience, in a way. So shouting at somebody that doesn’t do well with that isn’t going to help. And speaking slowly to somebody that is impatient isn’t going to do well; things like this.
So, to find the right type of communication with the person that you really care and love is important. So find that communication. Mine is through song, but apparently the chap I was trying to communicate with didn’t get that!
7. Wake Up
Okay, ‘Wake Up’ is about the music industry really. I was very pissed off when I wrote this song. I wrote it about maybe 5 or 6 years ago. And I think I had just left EMI then. And it was a really, really long fight for me to leave.
And at the time of writing it, obviously my level of passion was pretty high! And you can hear it in my voice. I’ve kept the vocal that I sang way back then; I mean it’s not a perfect vocal by any means.
But the passion in it is very, very true to that feeling and those lyrics. I still feel the same way – I still agree with my lyrics. But now, I don’t feel as angry as I did then. So that’s why I chose not to sing it again now. Because, I guess I’ve made peace with it and I also realise that everybody’s different.
8. Way Oh
‘Way Oh’ is about having a secret relationship. I suppose it’s really about the beginnings of a relationship. I love the idea of, kind of, you know, starting to date someone, but not telling anyone. I think it adds a little bit of a spark to a relationship.
A few friends of mine are going through a similar thing at the moment and I think “Oh, ‘Way Oh’ is your song”! You know, I would hate people to think that it comes across as a song that would sound like you’re cheating on someone because that is so not what it is!
And I know, when I listen back to the lyrics, I can hear that people would take it that way. To say, you know, “You’re my undercover man” You know, things like this. These lyrics would suggest that it’s a relationship that you have to keep a secret, because, maybe you’re married or something!
Well that’s definitely not what it is! Please don’t take it as that! It’s just having a little bit of mystery. And not telling everyone. Because you don’t want everyone getting all involved in your business.
9. Underworld
Imagine if you could step through a door that went down some stairs and through another door that went down some more stairs and so on and so forth, until you end up in a place of music and free spiritedness.
A place where everybody could do whatever they want as long as they are kind and nice and beautiful. And it’s dark, so everybody looks good, which is very important! It’s just a good place to be. But not in the light fluffy way – It’s more kind of deep and heavy. And that to me is what it sounds like.
10. Molly Town
Okay so ‘Molly Town’ is about a couple that I met in Bordeaux. I was travelling through Europe for a very long time in a very beat up old van and it broke down a lot! And it happened to break down outside of this pub called Molly’s. It’s an Irish pub.
And the chap that was working there was the chef and he was English so we really got along with him, and he was telling us a story of about how he ended up in Bordeaux and he said “Oh, do you know, I wish I could travel around Europe – that was what I started out to do.
I got in my car and I was like ‘Right I’m going to go on a trip around Europe..’” And then he met Stella, who lives in Bordeaux. And he fell in love with Stella completely and totally, and he never went any further. He ended up staying in Bordeaux. And I just thought that was the sweetest story! So I decided to write a song about it!
11. Sensimilla
Okay, so this song ‘Sensimilla’ is really my love song to the plant that is marijuana. I think that it is a beautiful plant first off. They look like aces; I think they’re lovely! But more importantly, it’s a healing plant. And there’s so many things on the Internet that can hold up that opinion.
And it gets a lot of flack. But also it has been very helpful in the creative process. I always like to have a little bit of a smoke when I am writing. But it is a very important plant to us as human beings and I really think that that is a huge thing for us.
12. Harry’s Symphony
‘Harry’s Symphony’ is a song that is really a bunch of songs that I have loved for a while all smooshed up together in one, with a lovely heavy bass line, and you know, some great little horn licks and stuff! I really enjoyed making this one; it was really fun!
We were in France – this is when we wrote ‘Molly Town’ and ‘Water For Your Soul’. We were just jamming around and I thought “What were these songs I was listening to the other day”? So I called my brother Harry.
I said “Hey Harry, what are these songs, you know you play them all the time and we’re singing along and there’s some reggae tunes, there was some drum and bass, jungle, bits and bobs that I really love”.
So we had a little chat and he goes “You know what Joss I’m gonna send you some stuff over”. So this is why we called it Harry’s Symphony. Because a lot of this, a lot of these songs that I have covered in here – I listened to them purely because Harry played them to me.
13. Clean Water
Okay, so the song ‘Clean Water’ is really just a very positive thought. I really hate waking up in the morning; it’s not my favourite thing. I need to have a cup of coffee and a little bit of chocolate.
So I said to my brother, Harry, “Do you think morning is like a depression thing – have that horrible feeling – is it a depression?” He said, “Joss, all you have to do is open your eyes and clench your fists and go YES! And that’s how you should live your life!”
I just thought, first of all, that that’s very funny, and very true! You know, just to be pleased that you’re still here and you’re still alive and the sun is still shining and everything is great.
And if you can wake up and do that, then, you know, you’re going to be happy aren’t you? That’s what this song is about. Just be positive. Every day can be a new day. Go and manifest something good towards you that day, don’t be depressed about it. It’s a new day! You woke up! So… Great!
14. The Answer
This is a song that doesn’t really provide too much of an answer, but it will hopefully get you to wherever your answer might be, to whatever your question is. I have a lot of conversations in my life with friends from all different walks of life about “Oh this is happening. Oh that is happening. Oh I don’t know what to do about this.”
We all have our crosses to bear – there is always something going on. You know, my problem might be HUGE to me but tiny to somebody else. There is always something that you can do to fix these things.
Well – a lot of the time there is! Unless you are grieving anyone. But, for a moment it would be nice to just let go of it, and then maybe you will find your answer. Just let go, pop it to one side, try not to put all this effort into going “Oh woe is me, woe is me woe is me” and just let it go.
