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︎ WORDS
︎ SOUNDS
︎ DESIGN
With his debut EP “In Tongues,” Joji Miller, formerly Pink Guy and Filthy Frank, gets personal.
The video employs many gothic horror tropes convey a vibe of chilling sadness and loneliness, an appropriate precursor for the EP. Joji sings “I got knots all up in my chest, Just know, I’m trying my best,” Miller sings from a bathtub filled with blood over soft, melodic cadence as cut scenes show a panda dancing around a trashy house. In a sit down with Mass Appeal, Joji admits that most of the video is up to one’s own interpretation, but this hasn’t stopped fans from diving deep into the video in search of their own understandings. And it isn’t unusual to see listeners exchanging notes on Miller’s lyrics or video content in Youtube comment sections or across other social media platforms. Within a month the video has received more than 8 million plays.
Joji is no stranger to virality. Not only is he the mastermind behind his own popular Youtube personalities Filthy Frank and Pink Guy, but he is also one of the stars of the original video that kicked off the Harlem Shake epidemic in early 2013. That video has now amassed over 58 million views.
Since his days of Youtube popularity, Joji has been a pioneer in understanding the intrinsic value of video, especially in music. He has been creating and releasing music as far back as October of 2015 and is a notable figure in Youtube’s underground alternative music community, encompassing genres like Lo-fi, r&b and indie, all of which his music draws inspiration from. Songs like “Rain on me,” and “I Don’t Wanna Waste My Time,” have become cult favorites among his fanbase and he even released a full-length project under his Pink Guy persona earlier this year.
But now, Joji is focusing his energy on creating as no other character than himself. “In Tongues,” features six tracks, including the single “Will He”. The EP paints pictures of deep-seated melancholy and dark imagery wrapped up in sultry r&b/alternative sounds. While it is a relaxing listen on the surface, it’s also a deep dive into the emotional mind of Miller. On tracks like “Bitter Fuck,” “Demons,” and “Pills,” Joji is most revealing about heartbreak, drug use and self-realizations. In one instance in particular, Miller references his use of Zoloft and Xanax to combat both his depression and anxiety while he repeats “Please don’t runaway,” to his lover. Just over halfway through the album on “Window,” Joji references Travis Scott’s Antidote in his contemplation of suicide saying, “We don’t wanna drive slow, drive slow, speed up with our eyes closed… head down, eyes closed.” The album ends with the shortest song, “Worldstar Money (Interlude),” where we hear Miller asking “…Am I crazy?” over ukelele strums.
The EP is accompanied by a full visual component, a trend that has been fully taken advantage of within the past year or so, with artists like Frank Ocean offering his visual soundscape experience “endless” to the world after a four year hiatus, and Toro Y Moi’s “Boo Boo” receiving the visual treatment as well. The visual was directed in part by James Mao, the visionary behind Lil Uzi Vert’s P’s and Q’s music video.
Additionally, several versions of the album’s official artwork have been circulating around the internet. One features Miller wrapped in heavy chains in a blue abyss, while another features Miller tangled in the tentacles of an Octopus, both odes to a more general theme of feeling trapped by emotions and vices found throughout the album.