A Glimpse of Joji: How Filthy Frank Evolved Into Billboard-Charting Music
A lot of us were busy consuming comedic YouTube videos between 2012 and 2016, as this was the peak for shock-humor, Vine compilations, and controversial skits. On the other hand, the rest of the crowd was busy creating this type of content, notably the award-winning musician Joji.
Today, George Kusunoki Miller, also known as Joji, is played countless times every day, whether it be on music streaming apps or TikTok. The 29-year-old recently went viral for his track “Glimpse of Us”, which is a melancholic song about moving on from a past romance. However, without his notorious YouTube comedian career, the artist would not be who he is now.
Miller grew up in Osaka and moved to New York in his early twenties. By then, he already started his infamous career as Filthy Frank on YouTube, where he posted bizarre and humourous pranks, challenges, and skits. His second persona was Pink Guy, which focused on similar content in a bright pink morph suit. However, despite his success, Miller grew out of it for multiple reasons and turned his life around with his artist persona, Joji, in 2017.
Joji is known for his synth-infused, R&B, and lo-fi tunes. Slow, blue, and contemplative, he developed a side that completely opposed his YouTube career. This contrast shocked his fans, but thanks to his undeniable talent and lyricism, Joji was quickly applauded as an artist. Debuting with the East-Asian label 88Rising, Miller found success all over the world, going on a world tour in 2018.
The recurring themes of heartbreak, identity, and bittersweet memories make his music an engulfing voyage of healing through darkness, and finding the light at the end of the tunnel. Joji’s musical debut was a stroke of genius, and although his presence in stardom has been shaky because of underlying health complications, he is one of the most defining people of social media’s history, whether it be for his YouTuber past or his viral ballads.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
