Joji \u2014 turning loneliness into something beautiful.<\/p>\n
In the quiet, restless hours of lockdown, I was listening to Joji\u2019s dreamy songs. As a preteen stuck in my room, his music offered a sense of normality when everything else felt disrupted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Departing from the sound that first drew me in, Japanese-Australian songwriter and producer George Kusunoki Miller, also known as Joji, released his explicitly titled album Feb. 6. The record mirrors my own relationship with his ever changing music: complex and layered. Not every track landed for me, but that inconsistency didn\u2019t distract from the album\u2019s brilliance.<\/p>\n
Joji\u2019s music resonates as the pulse of growing up. As his music continuously changes with experimentation, so do I. His compositions are full of heartbreak, profound longing and insecurity. He switches between passion and aggression \u2014 a key blend in this new album.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The record opens with \u201cPIXELATED KISSES,\u201d a heavy and edgy song. His eagerness is expressed through the flickering drumtrack and bursting synthesizer. Joji circulates in thought, talking directly to his lover who\u2019s out of reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Track three, \u201cLast of a Dying Breed,\u201d opens with a prolonged melody. The synthesizers reflect a desperate yearning \u2013 synonymous to the complex, human experience of love. The splitting drum track accompanied with the organ piano creates a grounded yet fleeting rhythm, which compliments his lyrics of flying well.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Track four, \u201cLOVE YOU LESS,\u201d is another star track. Featuring a real drum kit and lulling rhythm, it resembles the indie rock anthems I\u2019m a sucker for. The lyrics, \u201cIf I love you less, will you love me more?\u201d caught my attention as the thesis for the album, his main internal dilemma.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond the opening tracks, songs like the tender \u201cHotel California,\u201d the transient \u201cLove Me Better,\u201d the rippling, almost magical \u201cSojourn\u201d and closing track \u201cDior\u201d further solidify the album\u2019s emotional intimacy. Without a doubt, this is Joji\u2019s most experimental project yet. From blown-out bass lines to complex, restless beats, the album reveals a new shade of his melancholy \u2014 one edged with angst.<\/p>\n
Still, the album isn\u2019t without flaws. Despite its lengthy tracklist, several songs like \u201cSilhouette Man\u201d feel fleeting, functioning more like drawn-out interludes than fully conveyed ideas.<\/p>\n
Setting aside its shortcomings, Joji\u2019s new album was impressive and experimental, leaving me excited to see what comes next. The record feels honest. It\u2019s indecisive and restless, much like adolescence itself. As I continue to grow alongside his evolving sound, this album stands as a reminder that change is not something to fear, but something to feel through. Joji remains an artist who understands what it means to be alone \u2014 and how to make that loneliness beautiful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joji \u2014 turning loneliness into something beautiful. In the quiet, restless hours of lockdown, I was listening to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-467407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}