Born in Osaka, Japan and moving to the United States at the age of 18, George Kusunoki Miller cut his teeth on entertainment on his YouTube channel called TVFilthy Frank. His content ranged from comedy sketches to musical performances, but often garnered attention for their vulgar and controversial nature (See his 100 ACCURATE LIFE HACKS video). One fandom page even describes him as “everything a person should not be”. Regardless of your opinions on his YouTube content, it is really incredible to observe his shift from the comedic, almost careless attitude of his older creations to his new, meaningful, and often heavy and somber music. On December 29, 2017 — after nearly nine years of creating YouTube content under the moniker Filthy Frank — George Miller retired this character due to lack of faith in the project as well as vaguely stated health concerns. Miller stated he would no longer be producing comedy at all and officially retired the TVFilthyFrank YouTube channel. However, like a phoenix out of the ashes, the death of Filthy Frank made possible the birth of Joji.

On October 17, 2017, Joji made a name for himself in releasing the EP titled In Tongues. The project featured pre-release and hit single “Will He”, a tragic love song marked by slow piano notes and drowned out hi-hats — a unique take on breakup song to say the least. The project fleshes out the style that will mark Joji for what we have seen thus far in his career. “Pills” is the quintessential Joji song: distorted instrumentals layered with reverberated percussion and a few vocal “oooh’s”, all brought together with Joji’s lyrics and slow motion delivery. The visuals for this project are extremely unique, as it is clear that Joji is attempting to create a particular persona/aesthetic for himself. The music videos for “Will He” and “Demons” are both extremely unique and clearly intentional. With In Tongues, Joji shows the world that he knows who he is and wants everyone else to as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slightly over a year later, Joji released Ballads 1, his first full length album. It made its way on to the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts. While the album is not a personal favorite of mine, it is still a quality project with many well-produced and thoughtful tracks, and even features household name Trippie Redd (on the track R.I.P.). Ballads 1 showcases the track “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK”, one that harkens back to “Will He”, featuring slow synth keys and catchy bass kicks. The music video really highlights the similarity between the two tracks, with a similar blue visual filter  and a sullen Joji smoking in the rain.

Joji’s most recent project — and in my opinion his best — is titled Nectar, another full length album with 18 songs and running for just under an hour. Tracks like “MODUS” and “Gimme Love” demonstrate Joji’s successful endeavors to tackle a more uptempo track, while still maintaining the seriousness and though-out nature of a traditional Joji track. “Pretty Boy” is a fast-paced track about the fast life as Joji brings renowned mumble rapper Lil Yachty on the scene. “Reanimator” is a slow burn track with an intro that runs for over a minute, peaking with the cut of the melody and re-introduction of percussion, which is soon covered by Joji’s soft delivery. The project is wrapped up on “Your Man”, a victorious piece and a change from the usual downhearted Joji.

Joji’s persona is very different from that of Filthy Frank, as he is fairly silent on social media and presents himself in artistic and mysterious ways. While George Miller’s history as comedian Filthy Frank may lead some to not take his music seriously, Miller’s identity as Joji and his products he has put out certainly place him in the category of extremely important and talented artists of our generation.