The latest stop on Joji’s journey? Outer space. In the music video for his new single, “Sanctuary,” the rising R&B star plays a space ranger traversing the galaxy and battling aliens like he’s in a campy ‘80s sci-fi film. It’s a bigger, more theatrical production than his past videos, which have amassed tens of millions of views despite their low budgets. There’s a whole cast of actors, many in alien prosthetics and makeup, a laser shoot-out, and even a dance sequence. Quirky and melancholy, the project is right up the former YouTuber’s alley. Like most of his videos, Joji thought of the concept while he was writing the song.
“As soon as I heard the instrumental for this I knew it had to be something like cheesy space shit,” he tells BAZAAR.com. That meant using everything from an old video recorder to an actual spaceship set with a cockpit, control panels, and even a ping pong room.
When Joji (born George Miller) composes or hears an instrumental, the visual concept "has to already pop in or it's not really worth exploring as a track for me.” Such was also the case for his platinum-eligible “Slow Dancing in the Dark,” a moody alternative ballad where the video shows him bleeding through a white tux. “I knew it had to be a formal environment,” he says. “A white suit was the centerpiece of that song.” Same goes with his track, “Yeah Right,” which he planned to shoot on VHS from the start.
Dark, offbeat, and edgy, Joji’s videos are nothing like those he created as Filthy Frank, his former YouTube persona known for bizarre but viral sketch comedy. (He basically started the “Harlem Shake” dance trend in 2013.) The 26-year-old retired from that world two years ago for health reasons, but his lovably weird Internet humor lives on in his social media presence and, at times, his music videos.
But there's much more to Joji than the performer you see onscreen. He’s a witty, emotive lyricist and a passionate producer who loves juxtaposing contrasting sounds, like metal and hip-hop, which we find in his debut album Ballads 1 that dropped in October. He credits his breadth of sonic influences to his childhood and high school years, when artists like Limp Bizkit, 50 Cent, and Flying Lotus were on rotation.
Joji, who is part Japanese and grew up in Osaka, also broke barriers by becoming the first Asian-born artist to top the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart following Ballads 1’s release last fall. He says he was eating a slice of cheese when he learned the news. "I don't think I celebrated," he says. "I was like, 'Alright, what's next?'" For now, he’s still busy making new music. "I have not seen daylight."
Here, Joji tells BAZAAR.com about his love for producing, his debut album, and what he'd be doing if he wasn't making music.
Ballads 1—which carries tinges of trap and grunge—is a product of Joji's various musical influences.
When I was a boy, I listened to nu-metal like Limp Bizkit and Korn. I was always into that music, and even when I stopped listening to that music, those melodies and feelings still stayed with me. I think in this project, whatever I did always came with a hint of the nu-metal. I'd always wanted to include guitar, stuff like that. At the same time, I love James Blake. I also love Lil Pump. So let's just smash it all together. The things that I like to hear I was just excited to make.
Despite its title, the album isn’t full of traditional ballads. He challenges the genre with his R&B or alternative-inspired tracks.
I've always enjoyed ballads. I just like the idea of having a compilation. I guess the songs are all ballads, but in different ways, and they're all open to interpretation. It's important for people to know that you can still make ballads in this age, because I think people feel like it just ended with Celine Dion or Aerosmith. People our age can still do that too.
