Essosa

Joy Aiseosa Bakare was born on 9 April 2001^[3] in East London to Nigerian parents^[1] and was raised near Toronto, Canada before later moving to Essex.^[4] She began playing piano at age three and writing songs at age eight. She studied pharmacy at University College London, where she also recorded musical demos.^[2] Her stage name comes from a reworking of her middle name.^[5]

Her debut single, "The Retreat", was a protest song released in 2018, when she was 17 years old, in response to Brexit. She released her debut extended play, Dreamworld, in 2021, preceded by the singles "Belong" and "Memory"; she also released her song "Lemonade" in November 2021.^[6] She released one song, "Butterflies", in 2022. She released the single "Waste My Time" in 2023; it became popular on TikTok and, by 2024, it had been used in over 71 thousand videos on the platform and accumulated over 30 million streams on Spotify.^[7] She soon signed to Atlantic Records and her single "Tell Nobody" was released in November 2023 as part of her EP Essie's World, released on 20 August 2024.^[8][1]