Joji’s lo-fi feel and agonizingly desolate lyrics will plunge you so deep into your feelings that you will find yourself reliving moments with every single girl that broke your heart. Hearing his songs like “Yeah Right” will make you want to roll up in a ball and cry, giving you a refreshing dose of distress to remind you of how far you’ve come in your romantic life. Sometimes, you’ve got to feel that sadness—and Joji will deliver.
Previously known by his YouTube persona Filthy Frank, George Miller has finished the exodus from the rough cut-in-your-face YouTube videos into his true passion of composing music as Joji. Breaking ground with the end of his YouTube career to a transition into music, he took a lot of his fans with him. Many of his followers are still watching the content that he puts out, most likely in a thirsty hope for him to come back to his Frank, but now Joji, fans. His music videos on YouTube have comments from both fans alike saying things such as, “I can’t believe this is the man who made a rat burrito”, or, as follows:
Although most Joji fans miss Filthy Frank, the style of shock humor that he was so famous for as Frank can be seen in the scenes and mood of his music videos. In the music video for “Slow Dancing in The Dark,” scenes where Joji can be seen stumbling around in goat hooves and an arrow in his back vomiting up blood are comparable to the shocking visuals of Frank scouring the streets of New York looking for dead rats as an off-brand Guy Fieri, or hosting an animal fight between a snake and a bunch of mice. Just looking back at the videos while writing this makes me laugh before I’m hit with a tidal wave of nostalgia.
Tagging along with Miller from YouTube comedy to music is a rewarding journey when you see how far the artist has come. Although we miss Filthy Frank and the crazy content he put out, there is no doubt that his channel would not survive in YouTube’s current state; with the demonetization of millions of videos and bans on hundreds of accounts, Filthy Frank would definitely have felt these changes. From his acts as Pink Guy to the sorrowful songs in his album BALLADS 1, Joji has grown exponentially, and the evolution of his content is aging like fine wine. A YouTube Account commented on a video, “Joji, whenever you feel sad and depressed, just feel free to reach out to your older fanbase. we are waiting, in the dark.”