Quick-Fire Questions: 10 minutes with Joni
Heartbreak is one of the pillars of art. It is well-worn ground, yet we can’t stop treading it as love is a never-ending emotion, heartbreak a never-ending inevitability to that, and both come with a never-ending hunger to understand or articulate the messy feelings. Artist and audience alike never tire of it, and with the release of Things I Left Behind, Joni drove deep – what else would be expected from the daughter of a submariner?
But Joni’s deep dive manages to find new angles to look at it all from, and new corners of the experience to burrow into. She sings about the first missed birthday, how the desire to build a life with someone morphs as that gets less likely, the odd sense that part of you, in some way, will always stay with someone who is no longer around. She finds new ways to articulate it, but mostly, she nails a sound so perfectly atmospheric that the album feels immersive, whether you’re currently going through it or not.
The context of the album helped a lot with that. Joni moved to London while deep in love and is still in London, but out of that love. Across the record, she’s grappling with a real-life heartache that existed so close to the world of her music that, of course, it was going to cross over.
But while we could deep-dive into that and ask her a series of incredibly personal, incredibly revealing questions to attempt to get the gossip of her heartache, we thought we’d find out some much more pressing information, like what she likes to eat for breakfast.
Quick-Fire Questions with Joni
What’s your current breakfast obsession?
“Current pastry fixation is a plain croissant from E5 Bakehouse with an oat flat white.”
What’s one random thing you lost once that you’ve never quite got over?
“I think I’ve gotten over every loss.”
What’s your favourite thing about now living in London?
“Lots of parks to run in, and that it never gets too hot.”
What’s your least favourite thing about now living in London?
“There’s no good Mexican food. Tragic!”
Who would win in a fight, London or LA?
“Definitely London.”
Other than your own, what’s your favourite release of 2025 so far?
“Earthstar Mountain by Hannah Cohen.”
If your music existed in the cinematic world of one movie, what would it be?
“Lost in Translation or really any Sofia Coppola film.”
What is something random that inspires you that people might not expect?
“I love Greek mythology. And names of flowers, plants, trees…”
As the daughter of a submariner, is there a particular ocean fact that stuck with you?
“Submarine fact is that they keep canned food as the floor of the submarine, and as the weeks pass, the floor gets lower and lower.”
What’s the best music venue in the world?
“The Hollywood Bowl is pretty amazing.”
If you could put on your dream festival with any artists, dead or alive, who would be the three headliners?
“Let’s go with all dead… Jeff Buckley, David Bowie, Elliott Smith.”
Who is an artist that deserves more hype?
“My friend’s new project called Ammonite.”
If you won the lottery and suddenly got millions and millions, how would you spend your first 24 hours as a rich person?
“Book the first flight to Japan with an extra seat for my dog.”
What’s the best thing about making music?
“Having the last word.”
Are The Beatles overrated?
“Accurately rated. George Harrison forever.”
