Review: Joji — 'In Tongues'

Here is a link to the full visual of In Tongues.

In Tongues by Joji is extremely calm and flows through your ears like a river of heartbreaking peace. Through out the whole EP he uses soft vocals that come second to the beat and follow it in tone as to not overpower it. I found it very pleasing because unlike most music today he appreciates that beat and what it adds to the experience. The track list blends together very well; there is no song that has an out-of-place tone of feeling. This is one of my favorite EPs/projects of the year and it came out of nowhere. If you don't know who Joji is, this next part will be a brief summary of where he came from and how I learned about him.

George Miller, or Joji, or Pink Guy, or Filthy Frank, is an Japanese-American YouTuber. He got his start posting to his channel TVFilthyFrank where he most notably created the Harlem shake and just posts weird shit. But it's great and I love it. How I discovered his content was through a channel called H3H3 where he was featured on a couple of sketches.

His music career got started through his character Pink Guy which is centered around rap and the most absurd and hilarious lyrics I've heard. Weird Al is a kindergarten teacher compared to Pink Guy. After his most popular Pink Guy release, Pink Season, he decided to try releasing under the name Joji. This was such a big decision because, like anyone trying to branch out from what people know them for, he was wondering what the reception would be.

Recently he has released some other songs not on the EP, most notably "I Don't Want to Waste My Time" and "Rain on Me" (the homework edit is great if you want to relax). He is currently on the 88Rising Asia tour with Rich Chigga and Higher Brothers.

Now that the fanboying is done, back to the review...

This is the part where I break down the songs and highlight the good things that I see in them.

"Will He"

A dialogue in Joji's head about if the new person that his ex is with will treat them as well or better then he did after they broke up. It's very simple like all of the songs on the EP, but that statement isn't meant to take away from his work. What is beautiful is the flow of the lyrics and how his voice complements the beat with long echoing notes. This is probably my favorite song on the EP just because of how mesmerizing it is when he draws out these notes.

"Pills"

This song is almost a cry for help from Joji not wanting his significant other to run away and leave him because of how much he wanted the relationship, tangled in with how broken he is that he can't have it. He references Zoloft and Xanax which are used for cases of severe depression. This song has an upbeat chorus and a mesmerizing beat that pulls you in with complexity then strips it all away to give you a feeling of loss.

"Demons"

This song is about the demons that Joji lives with and how the people that love him don't understand what he is going through. This song has a hip hop element to it with its built up chorus, but then goes back to the subtle R&B elements in the verses. One of the more popular songs on the album to date based on Spotify streams—I think this is the most listener-friendly song because of the hip hop elements.

"Window"

This song seems to be about him struggling to with wanting to die and not wanting people to try and fix him. This is a trap-heavy song pulled together with a light chorus. Before reading about the song I thought it was a reference to him struggling with drugs, but I have not seen any evidence for that. The way you take this depends on the listener, I would say.

"Bitter Fuck"

One of the more crass songs on the EP, "Bitter Fuck" is presumably referencing a time when an ex or someone close to him called him a bitter fuck, which makes him believe and in part act like a bitter fuck. Every part of this song blends together well with the simple guitar beat behind it which gives it a good continuity. It's one of the more repetitive songs, making the vocals melt away as you listen to it more and more.

"Worldstar Money (Interlude)"

Last but not least is "Worldstar Money," which opens with him going back to his roots with a ukulele which transitions into a trap beat then back to ukulele. The purpose of this song seems to be just to sound good, and it does that very well. It's got about 25 unique words, so its not the most complex in terms of lyrics but they all get stuck in your head and the beat makes you want to move in an amazing way.

Conclusion

It does everything it tries to do well. The only problem I have is that I just want more music, more complexity, and in the future I'd love for Joji to change his styles up because he's proved that he he can rap, so I want to know what else he is hiding. But I love this EP and can't wait for more.

I give it a 9/10.

I would love to have a conversation with you guys. You can follow me on Instagram @Yaboicaldiereckless and Twitter @yaboicaldiereck. I'm also on a YouTube podcast/gaming channel called Boys at Large.

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