If you like Jorja Smith you shouldn’t miss Wesley Jospeh, although that’s probably why you already know who he is, since Jorja and Wesley were part of the same musical collective, OG Horse, when they both lived in the industrial city of Walsall, in central England. Joseph then moved to London to study film, but continued creating music: in 2020 he released his debut single, ‘Imaginary Friends’, and in 2021 he released the EP ‘Ultramarine’, which included a collaboration with the aforementioned Jorja Smith, ‘Patience’.
In 2023, Wesley appeared on the famous COLORS program to present his single ‘Hiatus’, but it took 2026 for the world to hear his official debut. Armed with an amalgam of styles that mix R&B, pop, electronic and indie, Joseph releases ‘Forever Ends Someday’ on April 10.
The battery of singles released points to the typical influence of Frank Ocean, but in ‘If Time Could Talk’ a freshness of its own is perceived in Wesley’s compositions, perhaps a result of his electronic sensibility, enhanced by none other than Nicolas Jaar, one of the producers and composers involved in the album. ‘Peace of Mind’, for its part, veers towards trap, featuring rapper Danny Brown as a guest artist.
However, the best single from ‘Forever Ends Someday’ is the third, ‘Pluto Baby’, which we chose as Song of the Day for today, Thursday.
‘Pluto Baby’ will make you raise your eyebrow when you discover that Wesley is not signed to any multinational, but to Secretly Canadian. Joseph, along with Jaar, Tv’n and other producers, delivers a song with tremendous “punch” that uses synth-pop synthesizers, stormy digital textures, submerged guitars, piano and a clear-as-day melody, leading Joseph to reach his most pop version. At times he sounds like the first and the last The Weeknd, simultaneously. ‘Pluto Baby’ talks about a girl who comes and goes like a “UFO” and who is elusive, as distant as the most distant planet in the solar system.
