Essosa

Joy Aiseosa Bakare, also known by her stage name Essosa, is a British-Canadian singer and songwriter. Her R&B songs take inspiration from the 1990s and the 2000s. She released her debut single in 2018 and signed to Atlantic Records following the success of her single "Waste My Time" in 2023.

Early life Joy Aiseosa Bakare was born in East London to Nigerian parents 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.

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. 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. 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.

Discography Extended plays + List of extended plays, with selected detailsTitleDetails Dreamworld Released: 23 April 2021 Label: Self-released Format: Streaming, digital download Essie's World Released: 16 August 2024 Label: Atlantic Format: Streaming, digital download

Singles As lead artist

As featured artist