Artist and filmmaker Wesley Joseph pulled a disappearing act, vanishing for three years at the height of his early success. But now he’s back with his debut album, Forever Ends Someday, proving good things come to those who don’t rush.

Wesley Joseph didn’t sleep much on the night of Wednesday 21st January. Blood pumped too fast, the voice in his head spoke too loudly. He was overcome by the thrill of it all. Hours earlier, he had performed his first London show in three years at Hackney Wick venue Number 90. He opened the crowd for mosh pits, demanding their attention, darting between favourites from his two EPs, 2021’s “ULTRAMARINE” and 2023’s “GLOW”, while testing out a handful of unheard tracks from his forthcoming debut album, Forever Ends Someday, due for release on 10th April via Secretly Canadian.

The venue was purposefully intimate. It could have been far larger; when he last performed in London in 2023, it was to a sold-out KOKO, Camden’s iconic 1,500-capacity live space. But this comeback show was designed as a seminal, private moment – shared only with his inner circle: friends, family, and early followers of his art. Fans travelled from across the country and abroad, waving boarding passes in the 29-year-old’s face as he cooled down at the merch stand – a token of their unwavering devotion.

“Those songs were written in lectures, on the night bus, the tube, my bedroom,” he exasperates, evidently still in awe at his vigorously received return to the live circuit. Those from the West Midlands (which Wesley is; the modest, industrial town of Walsall to be exact) are known for their humility, and within the timespan of niceties, there’s welcomed assurance that Wesley fits the archetype. It’s two days after his gig, and the singer, rapper, producer and filmmaker is tired but loquacious, clearly abuzz with being back on stage and releasing music. Outside, a crisp Friday awaits, but for now we sink into a quiet corner of a sleepy East London pub, sipping something sweet, warmed by a flickering open fire.

“There’s probably many layers to it, subconsciously, that I couldn’t explain now,” Wesley begins carefully, addressing the question on the minds of anyone who has followed his rise. After amassing millions of streams across two EPs, signing to a prestigious US label, selling out KOKO, touring America, and being recognised as one of the most distinctive British artists of his generation, he disappeared for three years. No shows, no features, more than 18 months without a peep on social media. Where has he been, and why the wait?

“Every time I’ve made music, I’ve done it without compromise. I only release it when I feel it’s the best I can do, when I’m almost a bit scared to put it out. But after “GLOW”, I felt a comfort I’m not used to feeling. I don’t want my art to feel comfortable. I wanted to make something that was truly a challenge, the absolute best I could do – and that’s my debut album. Also life happened, man, there’s a lot of things. It wasn’t like I could just pop out another one.”

Really, it says more about the state of the industry than Wesley’s decision-making that many inside of it would (and did) advise against such a lengthy, clandestine hiatus to perfect your debut album, arguably the most significant artistic statement you’ll ever make. Amid the fast-food, algorithmic production line that dominates contemporary music, authentic and unrushed art is still vital. Still, it’s a risk to take the handbrake off the momentum and shield yourself from the rush-hour of releasing. “Hopefully the times haven’t changed too much from my brief experience,” he counters. “I feel like good music will always find its way. I know sometimes it doesn’t, but I am a believer in that, it’s honestly my compass within having blind-faith. I know that if I just make the best shit I can and truly believe it’s worth the experience, it will find its way – somehow.”

And, why wouldn’t he have faith? It’s how he reached these heights in the first place. An outsider in a small town, Wesley always held a fascination for filmmaking and music – the latter first, commenting, “my first interaction as an artist with music was trying to find music for my own films.” In his late teens, he found a community to explore his budding interests in OG Horse, a local collective that also included fellow Walsall-native and BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, Jorja Smith. The childhood friends are inherently musically connected – their fathers were members of the same neo-soul band, 2nd Naicha – and have continued to collaborate in recent years. Jorja appears on the closing track from “ULTRAMARINE”, the sprawling, stunning ballad “Patience”, and features on “July”, a standout outing on Forever Ends Someday. 

Seeing life beyond the West Midlands’ fish tank, Wesley took a leap into open waters, moving to London to study film at University. In these early years in the city, he’d make ends meet by shooting and editing videos for “rich car dealer guys” in Essex, and coping with a cantankerous boss during a stint as a waiter in an Indian restaurant. Everything he did, he did for his art. In lecture halls, sleepy early morning train rides, and student accommodation, Wesley made his debut project. 

Not much happened at first. Streams were low. Yet through “word of mouth and time,” he watched on as eventually millions of people began listening. Off the back of the success of “ULTRAMARINE”, he signed to US imprint Secretly Canadian. He toured with and featured on London lyricist Loyle Carner’s third album, hugo, via the devastating “Blood On My Nikes”, and released his own second EP, “GLOW”, in February 2023, which included the Ivor Novello-nominated “COLD SUMMER”.

The sophomore, alongside its predecessor, made clear the weight of intentionality that Wesley’s artistic expression carries. Accompanied by cinematic, immersive self-directed videos, the discography – written and produced solely by him – thrusts its listener into an otherworldly state of being. A unique blend of avant R&B, opaque hip-hop, atmospheric soul and experimental electronica, its cold and haunting yet ethereal and euphonious. It’s music that’s created from “an insular place,” and that forms a distinct synthesis of tone and style. It’s a sound ill-fitting to any singular scene or genre – something he’s indifferent about, “not mad or happy.” He understands why he’s “perceived as a bit of a lone wolf in this.” 

The roots that were planted on “ULTRAMARINE” and fertilized on “GLOW” have sprouted remarkably on his debut full-length. There’s a reason it took three years to put together. One word frequently persists when Wesley speaks about making the album: care. He treats his work as an object of fragility, an entity of unmatched significance. The thing that matters more than anything else. An absolute fealty to his craft.

The meaning of the album’s title embodies this. Forever Ends Someday. A hotchpotch of temporal terminology that feels patched together to be interesting. And that’s what it was at first. But as the record’s structure and themes unfolded, and Wesley experienced life’s highs of love, romance and belonging, and the lows of grief, doubt and existentialism, he began noticing a pattern, and the title revealed itself.

“I realised the songs were channeling different parts of my life – from childhood to teenage years to present tense, and looking into the future. And it was becoming a coming of age record, an overarching look at romance, growing up, teenage angst, joy, lust, nostalgia. The best parts, the worst parts. The sun and the rain. I understood the feeling of youth as something that’s borrowed, not kept. It’s something that is fleeting. But it isn’t over yet. I’m still in it. I’m still here.”

He continues: “The album has darkness in it. There’s an underlying tone of stress and anxiety. But there’s also hope in it. The joy that comes with the pain, that’s the ‘forever’. The ending is the darkness, but the ‘someday’ is the appreciation that it hasn’t happened yet.”

Coated with the cool ambience and rich world-building he contrived on “ULTRAMARINE” and “GLOW”, Forever Ends Someday takes Wesley’s conceptualisation and craft towards crescendo. It’s starker, more personal, compassionate, complex, mature. The visuals are more striking. In the lyrics, you can read his fear – of losing his youth, his memories, those who he loves. And you can sense his desire – to hope, to learn, to grow. From the aching and emotional “Seasick” to the sharp rap incandescence of Danny Brown-featuring “Peace of Mind”, the grandiosity and drama of “Quicksand” to the consuming intimacy of “July”. This record does everything you want from a debut album: it sketches a mercurial outline of who its maker is as a human, and paints a vivid picture on who he is as an artist.

“I never wanted to just fill space or add to the noise for the sake of it. There’s enough of it already,” he mediates as the sun threatens to set outside the window. “I want to have a distinctive colour on the board, and feel grounded about it.” 

I can’t help but disagree with the last part though, as I scurry off into the shadowy evening. From rapper to singer, filmmaker to beatsmith, a speaker of truths and a merchant of hope, Wesley Joseph is a kaleidoscope of artistry. A rainbow derived from greying clouds. The sun and the rain. No single shade will ever suffice.

Photography by Frayser Thorne
Styling by Zahra Asmail
Words by Ben Tibbits
Grooming by Michela Olivieri at Caren Agency using Innersense Organic Beauty & Erborian 
Photography Assistant Aadam Clarke