As breakout smash ‘End Of Beginning’ achieves the sort of belated success that has us wondering if any other songs are currently available on TikTok, DJO is becoming far from a mere side project for Joe Keery.
Words: Ali Shutler.
Photos: Zachary Gray, Guido Gazzilli..
Djo’s nostalgia-fuelled ‘End Of Beginning’ is fast becoming the biggest song of 2024, despite being released 18 months ago as part of his twisting second album ‘Decide’. “It’s pretty unbelievable,” grins Joe Keery during a flying visit to London that sees him present the BRIT Award for Best New Artist to RAYE.
“You always hope your music finds its place in the world, and it seems like that one has, in a really big way,” he continues, admitting ‘End Of Beginning’ has already reached more people than he ever thought possible. It’s racked up well over a quarter of a billion streams on Spotify, is still climbing the Billboard Hot 100 in America (currently at Number 11, sandwiched between Noah Kahan and Taylor Swift) and has gotten comfortable in the Top 5 of the UK Official Singles Chart. “I’ve just stepped back and watched it take on a life of its own.”
“I wasn’t writing ‘End Of Beginning’ with the idea that it would connect with people, though,” he continues. “It’s a very specific song based on my own life and my own experiences.”
Written about returning to Chicago, the city where Joe went to college, cut his teeth as a live musician and paid bills by waiting tables while auditioning for commercials, the song is bittersweet, anxious and driven by wonder. He believes ‘End Of Beginning’ is connecting because of how intimate it is. “My perspective is pretty clear. Going back somewhere, remembering a time, yearning for it, but also wanting to live in the present. Turns out that’s a very specific thing that is also really common.”
“To see the humanity behind a bunch of people feeling the same way as each other is super rewarding,” he says. “The fact that other people saw themselves in something I made is thrilling.”
With reflective lyrics and jagged musical chaos, ‘Decide’ is a very human album. While his debut record under the Djo moniker, ‘Twenty Twenty’, pulled heavily from escapist psychedelic rock and laid-back pop, ‘Decide’ sees Joe embrace a little bit of everything. There are still nods to The Beatles, Tame Impala and Pink Floyd, but there are also echoes of Charli XCX, Daft Punk and Talking Heads.
“I like the eclectic nature of it,” says Joe. “I think that there are no rules to follow, so why not just really dive into every angle that you’d like to explore? Why can’t a ‘pop’ record have that attitude?” he asks.
“If I think something is cool or exciting, I’ve got to trust that other people will feel the same way”
Joe Keery
Lyrically, ‘Decide’ tracks Joe’s progress from working part-time jobs as a waiter to becoming a globally recognised star thanks to his portrayal as empathetic, loyal jock Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. Throughout the 12 tracks, there’s celebration, ego, anxiety and uncertainty.
“A lot of that album is also me learning to trust my gut because, really, that’s all you’ve got,” he says. “If I think something is cool or exciting, I’ve got to trust that other people will feel the same way.”
“It’s the same for acting,” Joe continues. “You sometimes can do a scene, and it feels fine, but there are other times where something gets dislodged, and you feel like you’re really telling the truth. Instead of performing, you’re actually speaking to someone. That’s the thing to go after,” he offers. “If you overthink it, it doesn’t really work.”
He goes on to describe ‘End Of Beginning’ as a great example of not overbaking an idea. While most of ‘Decide’ is driven by flamboyant electronics, the delicate three-minute song is far more straightforward and revealing.
“In a way, it was really difficult to write,” he says. “I knew it had to be simple, but simple things are really hard sometimes,” especially when your background is sprawling, proggy epics. “I had to get out of my own way and let my subconscious tell the truth,” he says.
It’s one of the many times Joe subverts expectations with ‘Decide’. On paper, the title feels like a looming deadline, but the actual record consistently pushes back against the idea of sticking to one path. The music dances freely between genre lines, and Joe regularly changes angles as a storyteller while away from the music; he’s confidently spent the past two years establishing himself as a versatile actor (Free Guy, Fargo, Spree) as well as a musician without compromising either.
It all comes to a head with hypnotic album closer ‘Slither’ and the haunted line, “We all wanna be someone”.
“The things that are the least polished are often the most exciting”
Joe Keery
“That song has this gloomy atmosphere, and it feels oppressive, but it also has what I see as a hopeful message,” says Joe. “You’re always changing. There’s always another day to improve and chase the things you’re interested in chasing. It’s important to remember those sorts of things,” he continues. “I’m a pretty positive person, but it’s a good way to pep yourself up as well.”
“We are just all trying,” he adds. “Everybody’s just trying to do their best, and I find so much hope in that.”
“Making ‘Decide’ was definitely a learning experience,” he says, comparing the art of making music to “trying different hats on”. One day, he’d want to make a track that sounded like Gorillaz; others, he’d want something more like The Beatles. “I like to wear my influences on my sleeve,” he admits. “I know some people shy away from making music that sounds like something else, but why not?” he shrugs.
“Music is what inspires people to create. You might end up with something that’s a bit of a rip-off, or you might get something completely different. I’ve trusted myself to do more of that, and it’s yielded some cool results,” he adds.
Ultimately, ‘Decide’ is a record about embracing the jagged edges and doing away with the idea of perfection. “The things that are the least polished are often the most exciting. Look at a band like IDLES; how exciting is their music? It still sounds brilliant but it has an energy to it that you can really feel. That’s so inspiring.”
There’s a touch of that on ‘Decide’, which was recorded in just five days due to money and time constraints, but ahead of that tight schedule, Joe rehearsed every song intricately. “The goal now is to capture the original feeling instead of trying to recreate it,” he says, having spent a fair amount of time playing at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Taylor Swift was using the space at the same time, leading people to assume a collaboration is coming, but it’s not like he’s going to confirm that in a magazine that has printed the word ‘Dork’ above his head.
“Deep down, I am a dork, though,” he says. “More power to us.”
Since ‘Decide’ was released in 2022, Djo has released a handful of ‘D-Sides’ – “leftover things from when we recorded the album. There are more, but I don’t know if they’ll ever see the light of day, honestly” – and is deep into the next era. “There are a bunch of songs in the bag. There’s still more recording and mixing to do, but I’m really trying to focus on finishing stuff,” he says. “I’m excited to wrap this thing up, pick the things that work well together and see what it all means.” According to Joe, new music will be out sooner rather than later.
He goes on to describe the new stuff as eclectic as ever. “It feels like a couple of different albums in a way, but it’s all coming from one place, and there’s a goal in mind,” he says, having been inspired by the simplicity of ‘End Of Beginning’.
“I wanted to get less in the box and focus on songwriting, melody and moving swiftly. It’s not that every track has to be concise, but I want everything to be punchy.”
Lyrically, the songs are all “very clear and specific to my life, rather than about a broad feeling. That really is the power of ‘End Of Beginning’,” Joe continues. “With that said, the songs are all over the map. There’s not too much to give away at this point, but it does feel like I’m dipping into a bunch of different places.”
“It’s like someone who really loves mowing their grass and getting the stripes to line up”
Joe Keery
Despite writing songs about his real life, there won’t be any tracks about the imminent end of his commitment to Stranger Things on the next record, “but only because I’m not there yet,” he says. “Maybe that’ll be on the next record.” Djo’s very much an ongoing concern.
Alongside the creation of new music, he’s also eager to tour. “It’s a shame we couldn’t do more with ‘Decide’. I had a lot of ambition about the way that record could have been done live, but the main hang-up has always been my schedule and working on what feels like my day job,” he continues.
“I always want to put the right amount of time, effort and prep into the live show. I need a chunk of time where I know I’m not going to get pulled away at the last minute because it’s a cloudy day, so they need me back on set. It just hasn’t worked out yet.”
“It takes hundreds of shows to become a real touring band. We’re late to the game, so we got a lot of catching up to do,” Joe adds. “Getting to do it, and do it right, is really exciting to me.”
Because of his successes as an actor, he believes he “definitely” still has something to prove as a musician. Despite the reach of ‘End Of Beginning’, “I think I’ll forever probably feel that way,” he says.
The thing is, Joe isn’t new to making music. As a kid, he grew up on a diet of Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, James Taylor and Eric Clapton but really fell in love after seeing School Of Rock as a 12-year-old. From there, it wasn’t long before he was getting involved in Chicago’s vibrant indie community and creating music in his bedroom as Cool Cool Cool. He joined psych-rock band Post Animal in college and only left after his Stranger Things schedule started clashing with touring commitments.
No matter where his acting career has taken him, he’s always come back to music. “It just gets in there, doesn’t it? I love how albums can forever act like a teleportation device to a specific point in your life,” he explains. “It’s only happened a few times, but there are gigs where everything just clicks, and it can feel like a spiritual experience. Trying to do that from the other side is a very satisfying experience as well.”
With Djo, the only goal is to make more music and work with friends. “I just love to be creative,” says Joe. “As an actor, you get to be a small part of a big thing, and that really scratches an itch for me. But with music, it’s nice to have a vision and see it through.”
“It’s like someone who really loves mowing their grass and getting the stripes to line up,” he continues with a distinctly un-Hollywood analogy. “The more I do music, the more I’m interested in trying new things. It’s the same with movies,” he adds, turning things around. “You’re never trying to do the same thing every time. You’re just trying to create a breadth of work that resonates with people in different ways.”
When Djo first launched, Joe was so wary of how his art would be viewed; he used character play, fancy dress and a stage name born from the question “What is the most confusing way to spell my name?” to hide who was actually behind the project. Live, he took on the guise of an outlandish, guru-like life coach while on social media, his photos were garish collages of disarming wigs and over-the-top sunglasses.
“It was trying to avoid, like, ‘Yo, that’s Steve Harrington!’” he told Dork previously. Now TikTok is full of Djo fans having their mind blown that their favourite new musician is also an actor.
“I really want to get away from the idea that every song is my greatest song, because that expectation strangles the excitement”
Joe Keery
In the studio, he’s still having fun toying with character, though, taking inspiration from artists like David Bowie, Paul McCartney and David Byrne, who use their voices as a wide-ranging instrument. “I’m just trying to take the rules off. I want to create things without any sense of how great it might become, or how precious I am with it. I really want to get away from the idea that every song is my greatest song, because that expectation strangles the excitement.”
All those theatrics also acted as a shield to help him share music that felt increasingly vulnerable. “There was a time when I was using that armour through fear of rejection. If Djo did badly, no one really knew it was me. But that’s quite human, isn’t it, trying to protect yourself?” he says before breaking into a grin. “Now I have to reevaluate everything because the cat is out of the bag.”
“Honestly, I’m just feeling a lot more comfortable now,” he continues. “Even this week, I’ve felt like maybe it is okay to just be myself. Now that it’s been accepted, it makes me feel like I can be my fully weird, freak self.”
And that’s what he hopes fans take away from Djo. “The more you can lean into who you really are, the more you can let your freak flag fly, the more you’ll be able to connect with others and find genuine happiness,” says Joe.
“When it goes right, acting lets me process emotions from my life and work through them. It’s pretty selfish, but that’s also how I viewed music. When the world feels too heavy, I pour my feelings into songs and that always feels good to do. I used to think it was entirely self-indulgent, but after the reaction to ‘End Of Beginning’ and seeing how people can really connect with something, I’m starting to think it isn’t so selfish after all. In fact, it’s a powerful thing to be a part of.” ■
Taken from the May 2024 issue of Dork.
