Preorder Joy Oladokun’s Hope Is a Heavy Thing and make plans to join us in the record shop on Wednesday, October 7th at 4:00 PM for an instore performance & album signing with Joy! All who preorder her new album for local event pickup will receive a wristband with their order. Wristbands are required for the signing for all 13+ plus they guarantee entrance to our event. You can read more about Joy Oladokun’s upcoming Grimey’s event on our site here.

Hope Is a Heavy Thing, Joy Oladokun’s third full-length album, marks a bold new creative chapter, broadening her sound while continuing to explore questions of identity, resilience, and belonging with the emotional depth that has become her signature. It was self-produced with additional contributions from Nigerian producer Spellz and a feature from Nigerian artist Adekunle Gold. The project further reflects Oladokun’s ability to draw from diverse influences while creating music that transcends genre and geography. A queer Black musician and daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Oladokun has become a vital cultural voice, writing songs that explore identity, faith, mental health, and social justice with honesty and restraint. Those themes remain at the heart of Hope Is A Heavy Thing.

Hope Is A Heavy Thing is a brilliant expansion of Oladokun’s mission as a writer, which places her, in my mind, firmly among one of our greatest witnesses and translators of experience. It feels like many of us – artists, musicians, writers – are often attempting to make work that is constantly in response to theworld’s actions or inactions. I believe this to be admirable, and I have pursued that path of making myself, and because I have pursued it myself, I know how exhausting it can be, to take a big swing at the entire machine. What I find admirable aboutHopeIs A Heavy Thing is that it chips away at small corners of broader displeasures while, simultaneously, offering glimpses of actual, material pleasures, quiet (or emotionally quiet, but sonically robust.) - from “About Hope Is A Heavy Thing” by Hanif Abdurraqib

Joy Oladokun’s Hope Is a Heavy Thing is available to preorder here on gray-mix eco vinyl LP and CD. Preorders for local pickup come with a wristband for Joy’s album signing. Preorders + wristbands may be claimed at Grimey’s on Wednesday, October 7th, the day of our event with Joy Oladokun.

Preorders are limited to a total of two total (2) per customer / household. All who place preorders in advance will receive an email with preorder pickup and event details on or by the day before our Joy Oladokun event, including ENCM donation information.

*Preorders for store pickup will be held for three months after release date. Please pick up your Hope Is a Heavy Thing preorder no later than February 7th, 2027.