Ava Joe

Don’t miss Ava Joe live at SJQ in London this March – tickets on sale now!

In a world saturated with unrealistic ideals, Ava Joe offers a refreshing counterbalance. Her songwriting charts the emotional disarray of early adulthood, pairing tales of toxic relationships and youthful hedonism with transportive, nostalgic soul-pop. “What a big beautiful mess!” she marvels on the title track of her second EP, a sentiment that neatly captures her gift for delivering hard-won wisdom with lightness and grace.

At just 23, the London-based artist has already faced familial estrangement and controlling romances, experiences that pushed her to reclaim her voice. “I was conditioned to believe my voice wasn’t important,” she reflects, making her choice of singing feel all the more powerful. Raised in Devon and Surrey by a touring-musician father, music was ever-present: Radiohead, Nirvana and, most pivotally, Adele shaped her early ambitions. Through Adele, she discovered the BRIT School, earning a place at 14 after years of performances and determination.

Those formative years were personally turbulent, shaped by her parents’ divorce and damaging relationships. Ava processed that pain on her 2025 debut EP Try Me, transforming dark experiences into luminous, confessional songs. Its success paved the way for Big Beautiful Mess, a project that leans into freedom, joy and self-possession without losing emotional depth.

Co-written with Craigie Dodds and Dom Valentino, the EP balances DGAF anthems, celebrations of female friendship and moments of aching introspection, all steeped in jazz-inflected soul-pop and warm nostalgia. “Nostalgia is a big thing for me,” Ava explains. That timeless quality, combined with rapid artistic growth and recent support slots for Jalen Ngonda, signals an artist clearly destined for bigger stages.