VIRTUAL PIANO YEAH RIGHT JOJI CRACKED

Around the same time, Joji began working with the Asian music label 88rising, collaborating with labelmates Rich Brian and Higher Brothers for the summer jam “ Midsummer Madness” in 2018 and releasing Ballads 1 in late October.ĭespite his obvious penchant for conceptualizing and developing distinct voices, Joji asserts that his current figure is not a new alter ego, but rather something more in sync with his IRL persona. It’s been streamed over 300 million times to date and reached #1 on the iTunes R&B chart, although it received mixed reviews from critics. The cult virality of Filthy Frank and Pink Guy no doubt played into the success of the 2017 self-produced EP, In Tongues, Joji’s first release under his current stage name (derived from the Japanese pronunciation of ‘George’). They’ll find the music first, and be like, ‘Wow he used to be that guy? That’s crazy.’” But most other people will either know just my music, or the entire back story. I feel it’s like a lot of young white kids, like, I had a feeling about that kid with the remote control skateboard. “It’s an age thing-under the age of fifteen, they all know me as Filthy Frank,” Joji clarifies. Joji nonchalantly poses for the photo and resumes our conversation to explain how his diverse fanbases have merged more seamlessly than might be expected.

I just wanted to support myself and make some money.”Īccidental or not, it’s hard to ignore how various threads of Joji’s online fame continue to follow him, especially as we’re interrupted by a skateboard-wielding teen who stops by the table with a “Dude, are you Filthy Frank?” before asking to take a selfie. “Some of it took a musical turn, but for the most part, I was just trying shit out and having fun. “I had a few different characters,” recalls Joji, who announced in December via Twitter that he’d be leaving comedy, citing health issues as one of the main reasons.

VIRTUAL PIANO YEAH RIGHT JOJI CRACKED

In early 2017, a debut album, Pink Season, with singles like “STFU” and “Nickelodeon Girls,” had topped the iTunes charts and cracked the Billboard 100 at #70. Until his recent ascent to the mainstream spotlight, Joji had been best known for various Youtube alt-comedy projects dating back to 2008, most notably the prank-happy anti-vlogger, Filthy Frank.įathering an entire subculture of irreverent meme-friendly humor-with some 6 million subscribers to date on the TVFilthyFrank channel and another 2 million on the spinoff TooDamnFilthy-Joji says he always fostered a more serious passion for music, which he began tapping into with a newer comedic persona named Pink Guy.

1 on Billboard’s R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart, he’s no newcomer to broader internet notoriety. But while the Osaka, Japan native just became the first Asia-born artist to earn a No. It’s fascinating to hear how Joji is acclimating to his new view from the top-signing autographs, touring the world, meeting new fans. Photos and Styling by Alessandro Simonetti.Which is why, you know, I just live like a teenage boy.” “But I’m always focused on what’s next, so things like eating and cleaning get overlooked.

“It’s structured,” he insists, of his schedule, which includes late-night walks and the occasional game of basketball. I’d informed Joji (real name: George Miller) that I wanted to get an accurate picture of a typical day in his life-where he likes to hang out, what he likes to eat-but it was proving tricky to nail down a pattern outside of his work. He adds, as if registering my concern: “Yesterday I had two pieces of toast with jam in the morning and then at 10PM, I had a pork chop.” It’s the first meal of the day for the 26-year-old Japanese-Australian singer-producer, who’s freshly back in town following the nearly sold-out US tour he did with 88rising. “I want to eat-it’s just that I always forget,” Joji tells me offhandedly, as we sit down with a plate of Japanese curry at New York’s Go! Go! Curry!.

Virtual piano yeah right joji