On earlier releases, the Japanese-Australian musician toyed with lo-fi hip-hop and melancholic R&B production, sounds that he would expand upon on future releases while also exploring art pop and psychedelic sounds. ‘Glimpse Of Us’, the lead single of his 2022 album ‘SMITHEREENS’, was a stripped-back and heart-rending piano ballad that became his biggest song.
It's been silent on the Joji front ever since ‘SMITHEREENS’ dropped, and many have waited with bated breath for his big comeback, wondering what changes he would bring to his sound next.
Now, that comeback has arrived. With little build-up, ‘PIXELATED KISSES’ marks Joji’s first new song in nearly three years, and his first release under his new label, Palace Creeks.
There are no pleasantries to be made when discussing ‘PIXELATED KISSES’, no warnings given. From the moment the track begins until it ends, you are blasted with sound. Blistering, distorted 808-heavy production drills its way into the listener’s skull for just shy of two minutes as Joji demonstrates once more how easily he can use genre twists as a sort of sleight of hand against us. The song pulls heavily from the Rage style of trap production, popularised by Playboi Carti and his Opium label, with its buzzsaw synths chipping away at your eardrums.
‘PIXELATED KISSES’ is probably the most abrasive track Joji has released thus far, but it doesn’t completely abandon that mellowed-out melancholy that the musician is known for. The lyrics focus on the emotional struggles of a long-distance online relationship, and his clean, measured vocals contrasted with the explosive beat portray the often-chaotic mesh of emotions that come with that kind of experience.
It’s a pain-blasted and raw return to music for Joji, with a chord progression that you’ll feel in the deepest recesses of your soul. It helps that the vocal melody that carries throughout the short runtime is one of his catchiest. While Joji may still be conveying those same isolated and sombre emotions that he has throughout his career, he still finds fresh ways and new perspectives to present them, and the excitement at hearing them is what’s going to make the wait for that next full-length album worth it.
Ash Douglas
Image: ‘PIXELATED KISSES’ Official Single Cover
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