Japanese singer, songwriter, rapper, comedian, and former YouTuber, Joji returns this week with Smithereens—the long-awaited follow-up to his 2020 sophomore album Nectar. It also comes with a visual for “Die for You,” which, per, a press release, comes from creative studio Actual Objects and is “compiled entirely from stock footage.”
Joji teased the project back in June, when he gifted fans with its lead single “Glimpse of Us” and its ambitious video. Director Dan Streit spoke about the chaotic result in an interview, saying, “Joji had an idea for making a video that would be hand-held, shaky, where you’re following a group of kids and there’s lots of fast cutting and destruction. … So I found a good, cheap camera that we could get a bunch of to send around to cool subjects. And so certain ones worked and others didn’t, but the ideas evolved as we went along,” per Complex.
Nearly three months later, the 88Rising signee confirmed Smithereens’ release date and shared the visual for the project’s second single, “Yukon (Interlude).”
SMITHEREENS marks Joji’s first full-length since Nectar in 2020. He delivers his characteristically melancholic yet powerful vocals on tracks like “Die For You,” a sober, morning-after remembrance of a former love. The track is accompanied by a visual directed by creative studio Actual Objects compiled entirely from stock footage.
SIDE A of the album heralds a mature sonic direction for Joji through wistful and contemplative ballads accompanied by lush production that blooms within each song. SIDE B, largely produced by Joji himself, digs deeper into the lo-fi and off-kilter sounds that hark back to his experimental beginnings as an artist, per Manila Bulletin.
Since its release in June, the album’s debut single, “Glimpse of Us,” reached the #9 spot on Mediabase’s Top 40 chart as his first-ever top 40 radio record.
The song received an RIAA platinum certification in the US, Australia & Canadawith over784 million global streams to date and is Joji’s highest-ever Billboard Top 100, peaking at #8. It also made significant debuts on Billboard’s Top Streaming Songs and Global 200 charts and remained in the top 3 on the Spotify Global and U.S. charts for over a month.
“Glimpse of Us” is nominated in the 2022 ARIA Awards “Song of the Year” category and its Dan Streit-directed video won “Best Editing” at the UK Music Video Awards. “YUKON (INTERLUDE),” the following single off the record, saw similar success and praise for its psychedelic and mind-bending music video directed by the visionary duo and longtime collaborators BRTHR.
Sources: Complex, Manila Bulletin
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