archive post: Joji + Altering Ego
originally published on Nov 21, 2018
This is an archived post from Roxanne’s previous blog on Medium. She worked in the music industry at this time and depending on when you read this, what is depicted in her writing below may not be the current state of the discussed artist or industry today.
Joji, previously known as YouTube personality Filthy Frank if you were alive during the dark ages of the Internet’s early development of humor, is a Brooklyn-based Japanese singer/songwriter/producer. His 12-track album, BALLADS 1, recently topped Billboard’s R&B charts during the first week of release, making Joji the first Asian to ever place #1 in the category. The album has since dropped to #5 (from Billboard’s records up to 11/20/18).
BALLADS 1, while not technically Joji’s first venture into music, is by far the most influential project he has put out. Drawing elements from trip-hop, lo-fi, folk, and R&B, the album appears on the surface to be a continuation of the preceding project, In Tongues. In contrast to its predecessor, BALLADS 1 instead aims to tackle complicated themes of change and what Joji calls the “reality of love, life and everything in between.” Over the course of 35 minutes, we are constantly taken down a dark path only to see a transition into a much brighter tone, advocating for acceptance rather than allowing us to brood for too long.
This live-in-the-moment aesthetic is entirely on purpose. In the moments where we think we’re going to have to sit with ourselves forever, Joji rips us out and throws us into a new vat of emotion. Strangeness and unpredictability become the norm, even welcomed in unexpected places. It’s because everything about BALLADS 1 speaks to the subculture of millennials that favors obscure vibes over radio hits — the ones that are so desensitized to the harsh realities oversaturating the digital landscape, that they crave pure emotion. Joji makes music that is complex and understated all at once. It’s like a six course meal at a bougie ass restaurant in SoHo: it’s delicious to taste, but never quite filling enough because you’re never 100% sure what exactly you’re consuming or how to pronounce any of it.
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Joji is far from tongue-in-cheek however, instead opting to say exactly what he wants to say, when he wants to. An eclectic character himself, Joji represents the duality of youth: projecting carefree vibes yet acting upon a seasoned jadedness.
In “YEAH RIGHT”, he starts with the recitation Imma fuck up my life. Other examples of this duality exist throughout the album. “NO FUN” is one of the most upbeat tracks, bluntly calling out fake friends that don’t seem to show up for anything unless it benefits them. “COME THRU” exhibits a tug-of-war with those same friends or even romantic interests, as he croons You don’t really like me, no / And I don’t really like people / But you’re better by default. Here, he settles for the comfort of company while simultaneously admitting the company he keeps is toxic.
If we’re learning anything at this point, it’s that a lot of things in life can be superficial, but we’re all secretly hoping that isn’t necessarily true. One area we might hold these hopes are in relationships. “TEST DRIVE” presents a call and response format that seems to attest to the never ending cycle of love and loss. Just a few lines after vocalizing his hopes and fears about an anonymous lover, he lectures them saying I told you not to waste my fucking time. He’s right though. Sometimes we test drive relationships before actually committing to each other, which on paper sounds like a great idea but the emotional exhaustion that results from it can be detrimental.
BALLADS 1’s song titles are written in all caps, giving the impression he’s screaming at the top of his lungs despite the motifs of soft synth and string instrumentation that represent quite the opposite. Even the cover art is an all too familiar snapshot with Joji shirtless and staring back at you with fiery, crazed eyes and mouth agape like a wildman adrenalized by the hunt. He looks absolutely mad, but in a way you can almost sense the ephemeral happiness in his face. He’s doing amazing, in spite of not being fine at all. Even the visual concept for “CANT GET OVER YOU” is a worthy nod to Joji’s style. I mean, Joji rollerskating around NYC in a wig to the sounds of handclaps, harps, a cowbell, and a funky bass line — how could you not be tempted to just say fuck it! and do the same?
BALLADS 1 presents a concept that many new artists try to encapsulate but few have been able to execute. At over 55 million Spotify streams for “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK” alone, Joji shifts the narrative from mumble to moody. Emo rock kids from the 2000s have grown up and are now finding (slightly) brighter horizons in music like Joji’s: Waltzy tones beneath ethereal vocals, juxtaposed with pointed lyrics that are reminiscent of painful breakup conversations reserved exclusively for parked cars. Give me reasons we should be complete / You should be with him, I can’t compete. Rejecting someone to protect yourself from getting rejected first? An honest mood.
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So what exactly is it about Joji’s music that sells out his shows within the first five minutes of tickets going on-sale? What is the phenomenon that causes people to buy these same tickets for resale prices of nearly ten times the original $25 cost?
It’s a combination of things: the support of his label, 88rising; the need for music that makes you feel things you weren’t quite sure there were words for; and the underlying push for Asian visibility in mainstream music.
Or maybe it’s none of those things and this is all a wild guess — a grasp at straws, but the joke is that there weren’t any to grasp in the first place.