I have wasted an embarrassing amount of time waiting for somebody else to green-light shit I already wanted. I mean, I once waited for a guy to decide we were serious and for a boss to notice I was already doing the fucking job in the same time period! Meanwhile the life I wanted was sitting there like, bitch, are you coming or what? Judith Owen’s ‘Inside Out’ feels like the moment you finally stop hovering outside your own party and walk through the door like you paid the deposit. Her whole point is right there in the title. Build the life from the inside out. Stop waiting for somebody with a clipboard to decide you belong in it.
New Orleans gets into ‘Inside Out’ through the groove first with Jamison Ross helping Judith let all that self-discovery talk roll in slow and bluesy. The old-school soul and gospel influence gives the track warmth without making it feel sleepy and the Tonya Boyd-Cannon Choir feels like the friends yelling your name from inside the party once you finally show up. Judith could have delivered this whole message over a piano and made everybody think about their life choices. Instead she lets the whole thing simmer in slow New Orleans soul until the advice feels sexy enough to listen to. Much better plan.
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Judith starts with “Say something / Be someone and / Start living your life, start living your life / Start living your life baby. / Inside out” and I love how bossy she gets about the whole thing. She is done waiting for you to feel ready. There is always another reason to stall because somebody might hate the outfit or think the career move is insane. Eventually you have to stop taking applications for the role of person who gets to decide what the hell you do next. “Do something / free someone / Love comes from within, within” makes that freedom sound almost stupidly simple. Start with yourself. The rest can catch up.
The family line is where the song gets me. “your mama can’t help you / your papa won’t tell you, won’t tell you / all you got to do, all you got to do / Is live / inside out” is the uncomfortable little truth underneath all that joy. Your parents can love the shit out of you and still have no clue what your life is supposed to look like. At some point you become the adult you kept waiting for. That realization used to terrify me because I was convinced somebody older had the answer key. Turns out we are all winging it in better shoes.
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That repeated “Start living your life” keeps coming back until it stops sounding inspirational and starts sounding like Judith is personally getting annoyed with you. Fair. We are all very good at saying we want change while keeping the relationship that drains us or staying in the job that makes Sunday night feel like a fucking hostage situation. ‘Inside Out’ pushes against that paralysis with so much joy that the instruction feels possible. The choir gives the phrase flesh and pulse, which matters because “love comes from within” could die on a coffee mug. Here it gets a whole room behind it.
So Judith Owen has earned the right to tell us to get on with it. The Welsh vocalist and songwriter has spent a career moving through jazz and blues while her recent work has fallen hard for the musical spirit of New Orleans. Suit Yourself has now passed one million streams and includes collaborations with Davell Crawford and Joe Bonamassa. ‘Inside Out’ was co-written with Grammy winner Jamison Ross, with the Tonya Boyd-Cannon Choir helping turn Judith’s message into something much bigger than one woman talking herself into a fresh start. Putting this song at the end of an album called Suit Yourself feels cheeky as hell. After all that music, the final instruction is basically yours now, babe.
I know what I’m doing the next time I catch myself waiting for somebody else to tell me I’m allowed to want more. I’m putting on the dress and showing the fuck up. ‘Inside Out’ makes that choice feel joyful enough to stop overthinking for five minutes, which might be the real miracle here. Nobody is coming with the guest list. Judith already told you where the invitation lives. Inside
