Joe Keery, who rose to fame playing Steve Harrington on Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things, dropped his first album, Twenty Twenty, under the stage name Djo back in 2019. Keery had initially claimed the moniker in an attempt to separate his music from his performance in the Netflix show. Djo used to perform in a white jumpsuit, wig, and sunglasses to create these separate personas.
Today, the wall between the actor-singer’s two creative lives has come down, a direct result of his song “End of Beginning” going viral on TikTok last year, picking up steam a good year after its initial release. “End of Beginning” expressed the singer’s conflicting feelings regarding the global, and at the time overnight, success and attention he had received following the release of Stranger Things. Very quickly Keery had become almost solely associated with his character, Steve Harrington, with many fans only line conflating the two entirely.
“A major sacrifice,” Keery sings in “End of Beginning,” “but clueless at the time.” This sentiment of feeling simultaneous gratitude and regret for such a wonderful opportunity in his career resonated with people all over the world. Eventually, the song was used in over 2 million videos on TikTok, skyrocketing Djo into the public eye. Ironically, the song brought about the exact major change that Keery had already experienced once with Stranger Things.
Since the release of his album Decide in 2022, which featured “End of Beginning,” fans of Djo had been eagerly anticipating a tour from the singer, as well as new music. Excitement only grew as Djo entered the mainstream. At the end of last year, speculation of a new release continued following the removal of all posts on the @djotime Instagram account. Fans old and new alike rejoiced on January 7th when Keery posted an Instagram reel teasing his next single.
Teaser video for "Basic Being Basic"
Djo then spent the next two weeks building the cover photo for his third album, The Crux, which he announced on January 24th along with dropping the lead single, “Basic Being Basic.” On that same day, dates for his headlining world tour were announced. For the month of February, Djo will be performing across Australia, before bringing the tour to the U.S. in April. The Crux releases April 4th, and after the massive success of “Basic Being Basic” which reached over 5 million streams in its first two weeks, fans are eager to hear what else Djo has in store.
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