Five years after her breakout debut, Joyce Wrice is back with Machiko, a 14-track sophomore album that finds the R&B singer more confident, more playful and more unfiltered than ever.
The road here was long. Wrice spent three and a half years recording more than 100 songs before narrowing it down. “It was time to see what’s next for me,” she said.
Where 2021’s Overgrown lived in heartbreak, Machiko moves past it. Wrice admitted that finding her voice took time because the old story no longer fit. “I wasn’t heartbroken,” she explained. Instead, the album explores self-discovery and stepping into womanhood, set in a visual world of reds, browns and earth tones.
The title is deeply personal. Machiko is Wrice’s Japanese middle name, a nod to her Japanese mother and Black American father. “Machi means city, Ko means girl or child,” she said.
Singles “Break Me In” and “Crack the Code” set the slinky, sultry tone. Standout “Dangerous” turns up the heat with stacked harmonies, and New York rapper SALIMATA joins the lineup. Next on her list is a sold-out headlining tour.
