One time my friend invited me to a karaoke bar on South Street, I saw how a guy (already tipsy) in a polo shirt performed “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – and he performed it so that everyone who was in the bar was crying. Even the damn popcorn machine looked depressed. Approximately the same energy is in “Love in America”, the new single by joy burklund & her band – stubborn, hopeless, with a touch of absurdity. Joy Burklund (she/her) is a transgender singer and theater artist from Philadelphia. Having worked ten years in theater and film she returned to song creativity, and in 2022-2023 wrote material for her debut project.
Using an extensive stylistic palette, Joy combines punk boldness and folk softness. Joy’s new song “Love in America” poses the question: how can we preserve love in our hearts in times of war? It sounds like a document recorded by someone who stayed silent too long and now physically cannot stop. There is no protest in it in the classical sense – no marching rhythm or slogans that are shouted at rallies, don’t even count on that. On the contrary, it sounds more personal: a ballad about how love survives (or doesn’t survive) in a country that seems to be actively working against it. joy’s voice moves calmly and restrainedly.
The production is minimalist to the point of cruelty: guitar, rare bursts of electric background and in the center of everything – the singer’s voice. Such a choice makes the song’s lyrics heavier. There is no place to hide. When Burklund sings “Love in America what’s you? What’s me? what counts 25 us?” – not a rhetorical question, rather a plea for help thrown into the void, in hope that someone will answer. And towards the end of the track, when the arrangement almost completely falls apart, leaving only her voice and a quiet hum of feedback, it becomes clear: there is no answer. In my opinion, the most honest part of the entire track. “Love in America” is a song about the right to love in spite of everything.
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