Formerly known as YouTube character Filthy Frank on the channel TVFilthyFrank, Joji’s rise to fame as an alternative lo-fi artist was quite a turn. Formerly, Joji produced comedy hip-hop songs like “Fried Noodles” and “Are you Serious.” Straying away from his comedic background, Joji joined the Asian music label 88Rising, which also features artists like Rich Brian and Higher Brothers. His debut on this label was in late 2017 with the six-track EP “In Tongues.” He followed with a deluxe edition of “In Tongues,” consisting of eight remixes and two new tracks. On Oct. 26, 2018, Joji released his first full studio album titled “BALLADS 1.” The album, as the title implies, focuses on ballad production, but still features more upbeat production choices within lo-fi and trip hop genres.
The album opens softly with the piano ballad “ATTENTION.” This sets the emotional tone of the album and also opens up themes of love and loss. Through his lyrics, Joji voices his choice to keep real life conversations light and meaningless to avoid revealing too much about his own emotional state. This creates a compelling contrast against the general emotional vulnerability that Joji reveals through the album’s ambient instrumentals and muffled vocals.
The album loses a bit of its muffled quality through the next few tracks, “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK,” “TEST DRIVE” and “WANTED U.” While these still hold his vulnerability, they twist prior downbeat spin with more dynamic vocals, especially in “WANTED U.” All three of these earlier tracks on feature stronger drum breaks that carry through the album, making it a cohesive body of work despite the change in mood from track to track. While not every word is comprehensible on a first listen, the hazy vocals against the drum beats and unique, almost electronic sounds Joji uses portrays genuine emotion and leaves the exact theme to later listens.
Through the twelve tracks, Joji utilizes features, beginning with the fifth song “CAN’T GET OVER U,” featuring Clams Casino as a producer alongside Joji’s vocals. The other producers cited in this work are Thundercat and Rogét Chahayed. Immediately upon the start of this song, a far lighter beat pulls more focus to positive vocals. The instrumentation separates the first half of the album from the second with a new, lighter side of Joji’s music. Another production feature appears in “WHY AM I STILL IN LA” with producers Shlomo and D33J. The song takes the opposite approach of “CAN’T GET OVER U” by focusing on the deep bass and reverberated guitars. “WHY AM I STILL IN LA” contains extended periods with no vocals whatsoever.This structure draws the listener away from Joji’s ambiance and deeper into the heavy production, then breaks back into soft vocals with a complete shift in tone. The album’s only vocal feature is Trippie Redd on “R.I.P.,” bringing a taste of modern rap onto the album. Redd’s gritty voice juxtaposes Joji’s airy vocals on the track.
“BALLADS 1” is a journey of emotional vulnerability, love and loss, and the ballads overlaid with simple drums lead to twelve ethereal sounding, lo-fi tracks. It moves through a variety of tempos and sentiments and makes one cohesive work. If he continues with this style of work, Joji is sure exceed expectations, so here’s to hoping for another album or EP sometime soon.
