Hope Is a Heavy Thing, Joy Oladokun’s third full-length album, marks a bold new creative chapter, broadening her sound while continuing to explore questions of identity, resilience, and belonging with the emotional depth that has become her signature. It was self-produced with additional contributions from Nigerian producer Spellz and a feature from Nigerian artist Adekunle Gold. The project further reflects Oladokun’s ability to draw from diverse influences while creating music that transcends genre and geography. A queer Black musician and daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Oladokun has become a vital cultural voice, writing songs that explore identity, faith, mental health, and social justice with honesty and restraint. Those themes remain at the heart of Hope Is A Heavy Thing.

Hope Is A Heavy Thing is a brilliant expansion of Oladokun’s mission as a writer, which places her, in my mind, firmly among one of our greatest witnesses and translators of experience. It feels like many of us – artists, musicians, writers – are often attempting to make work that is constantly in response to the world’s actions or inactions. I believe this to be admirable, and I have pursued that path of making myself, and because I have pursued it myself, I know how exhausting it can be, to take a big swing at the entire machine. What I find admirable about Hope Is A Heavy Thing is that it chips away at small corners of broader displeasures while, simultaneously, offering glimpses of actual, material pleasures, quiet (or emotionally quiet, but sonically robust.) - from “About Hope Is A Heavy Thing” by Hanif Abdurraqib

Released 9/25/26 through Concord, Hope Is a Heavy Thing is available here on gray-mix eco vinyl LP and CD.

*Preorders for store pickup will be held for three months after release date. Please pick up your Hope Is a Heavy Thing preorder no later than February 7th, 2027.