Brave (Joyryde album)

While Ford was writing an extended play, a disk in his lower back collapsed and he underwent surgery. He had to take opioids and nerve damage medication to cope with the pain and said that he did not feel like himself during this time period. The medication brought on hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, among other mental issues, and put Ford into a state of mind that left him unable to finish the EP. He thought that it would be a long time before he could release music again.[15][16] Ford attempted to write music in his studio, but later could not remember coming up with some of the songs and ideas during these sessions.[17] He tried to get off the medication to improve his mental state, but suffered from the shakes, drug withdrawals, insomnia, and general pain. Ford finished one song during this time, then two more a week later.[15][16] On 5 March 2020, 16 months after the album's initial release date, Joyryde announced that he had finished production on Brave.[12][13]

Brave explores the genres of house, trap, hip hop, grime, and UK bass.[15][18] Ford wrote Brave as a way to express his passion for music, energy, attitudes, and culture. He did not feel like he was Joyryde, instead conveying the analysis as a mood or style he fights to find while working in his studio. Ford went on to say that a lot went into the album and it was not for him to determine whether it is good, though he wanted Brave to be good. Ford concluded by saying the album was what Joyryde deserved.[17] Joyryde makes use of vocals from featured artists and vocal samples on the songs "On Fire", "Got Real", "Fail Me", "Arteries", "I'm Gone", "Brooklyn", "4AM", "RTTB", and "Damn".[19]

"I'm Gone" is a house and trap song that was produced by Ford when he was medicated with opioid pills after his surgery; he had no memory of writing some parts of the song as an effect.[20] Ford felt his mental health was deteriorating while producing the song. He said: "I'm grateful to have music and Joyryde in my life because that's what pulled me back into the strongest version of myself I've ever been".[21] The song features aggressive female rap vocals, based on a danceable melody and synth structure,[21][22][23] piano progressions and orchestral strings.[22]

The track "Yuck" is a mix of hip hop, bass and trap music,[24] and features rapping by Gold over 808s. Joyryde was impressed by Gold's vocals, tweeting that it was "like if he in the room with me".[25] The song makes use of trap drum chops rather than Joyryde's usual four-on-the-floor time signature and the second-half layers a series of vintage talking samples over the top.[25][26] In an interview with Earmilk during the Electric Daisy Carnival festival in Japan, Ford said that Gold's lyrics worked seamlessly with the original track without any effort. He estimated that only nine hours were spent working on the song and had left the majority of Brave untouched; Ford did not want to overproduce the song as he knew it would "become lame" if he did so.[27] The track "Madden"", samples Method Man's "Release Yo' Delf" (1994) as part of its intro, layered alongside house music plucks before a breakdown.[28][29] The song is a mix of bass house and hip hop, with it making use of complementary vocals and basslines.[30] The Wolf Of Wall Street and the Lamborghini Countach heavily inspired the song.[31]

"Selecta 19" is a bass house song that is set in a four-on-the-floor dance floor arrangement, with a tempo of 132 beats per minute.[32][33] The song's low-end-focused basslines are arranged over a topline melody with obnoxious vocals.[33][34][35] Ford thought the original version of "Selecta 19" was good, though felt a responsibility to improve upon it. He experimented by making the song sound worse, de-polishing and leading to it sounding more "raw". Ford did not want to have a lot of elements in the song, as it could become confusing. After completing the song, he felt the released production was the best version even if it was "architected to be worst sounding".[27]

Four singles from Brave were released—[39] the first being "I'm Gone", which was released as the lead single on 22 February 2019. In October 2018, an early version of the song had surfaced online, but it was later updated and cleaned up for the official release.[23] The single was marked as the first official release by Hard Recs, launching the record label. Pasquale Rotella—the head of Hard Rec's parent company Insomniac—said he was excited about the launch of the record label and believed that Joyryde was the "perfect person to kick things off".[22][43] Joyryde's previous song, "Agen Wida", was thought to have been released as the lead single from the album; the release of "I'm Gone" clarified this to not be the case.[44] The latter's contrast of emotional orchestral sections with "aggressive words and violent bass house frame" was described by Christina Hernandez of Dancing Astronaut as a depiction of Joyryde's "inner turmoil in a club-friendly way".[22] Billboard's Kat Bein called "I'm Gone" a "mood-shifting" and "mind-bending" song that explores the mix of classical and urban styles, praising Joyryde's sound design.[21]

Joyryde featured two Lamborghini Countachs during his Hollywood Palladium live set.

"Yuck" was released as the second single from Brave on 22 March 2019, with a feature from rapper Gold. Bein described the song as an example of Joyryde's signature style of house music combined with trap music and hip-hop. She also highlighted Gold's vocals as standing out from the rest of the song's composition.[25] Your EDM's Karlie Powell complimented the use of various bass music genres alongside trap and hip-hop; she said "any listener with a trained ear" would be "able to pinpoint" Joyryde's distinctive style.[24] Bella Bagshaw, writing for Dancing Astronaut, called "Yuck" one of Joyryde's "most lurid releases to date". She said that Gold's delivery solidified "the track's shadow-dwelling lifeblood" with the message to remain devoted to one's artistic endeavour for maintaining a sense of individualism.[26] Peach Gallagher from Run The Trap praised the single, writing that Joyryde's "god-like production skills" turn "the party into a riot".[45]

On 23 August 2019, Joyryde released "Madden" as the album's third single. The song had been played during Joyryde's various live shows before its release.[30] Ford said that after seeing The Wolf of Wall Street, he wanted to do something with a Lamborghini Countach. On 26 July 2019, Joyryde featured two Countachs during his live set at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.[31] The energetic single, as described by Max Chung of Run The Trap, is a song that features Joyryde's signature "mayhem" with "classic house plucks and unique vocals".[29] Meadow wrote about the "UK flair" being mixed with the song's bass house and hip hop composition, stating it is something that only Joyryde has been able to master. He continued, saying the song was sure to be another classic in Joyryde's repertoire.[30]

The release of Brave's fourth single "Selecta 19" was delayed from its originally planned 3 May 2019 release. Joyryde explained that he decided to postpone the release of the song because he did not like "the sound of a few parts in it".[46] The announcement was posted to Instagram the day before the song's scheduled release.[47] The song was ultimately released as a single on 4 October 2019.[34] Ford wrote in a social media post that he wanted to make a "no ego, fun, jump-up, good-vibe" song to add a contrast to the album.[32] Writing for EDM.com, Sarah Kocur said that "Selecta 19" captured Joyryde's "true essence" and noted that it was one of the most praised songs to be released from his live sets.[34] Omar Serrano of Run The Trap also noted the presence of the song in Joyryde's DJ mixes, saying it gets "any crowd riled up". Serrano further described how the song's vocals and basslines "team up to create an absolute nasty cut".[35]

The music video for the track "Thrill" debuted on 14 April 2020, through Joyryde's YouTube channel.[48][49] Directed by James Mackel, the video shows two lovers wreaking havoc in a Bonnie and Clyde-Esque storyline, featuring chase scenes with police and federal agents.[49][50][51][52] The production of the music video was inspired by a quote on Majilla's Facebook page, which said: "sometimes you gotta play the villain".[49] The music video includes a tribute to Rob Lyfe—the actor that played the lead male—who had passed away six months before the release.[50][49]