“SMITHEREENS” by Joji: Review/First Thoughts on Listen
The Japanese-American returns with his last 88rising album
Minimalistic at heart, this melancholic LP is packed with potential and the zeal to move on from his heart-ache.
Introduction
9 songs.
Split into two discs.
Two whole years.
I expected more from this record, considering the amount of hype I attached to it.
What can I say? I’m a fan.
Joji has evolved a lot more these past couple of years, and it’s crazy to think these songs are from the same artist.
The same guy behind the offensive but funny Pink Guy persona?
The dude who was responsible for the viral dance sensation the “Harlem Shake”??
SMITHEREENS is a great example of when record labels push silver birds to lay gold. It just doesn’t work like that.
Impressions
His previous album, Nectar, was much more polished and had that “re-listen” value, which, unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to possess. This just feels like a compendium of scrapped B-sides from his previous bodies of work, if you ask me.
It feels rushed, and I think Joji wasn’t really ready to drop an album this year.
Throughout, Joji (mostly) sounds dead inside. Vocal layering is inconsistent and digital effects can be too much at times, which is sad because personally I believe this is one of his greatest qualities.
The production feels very generic in some cases, which makes me feel empty when listening. “Glimpse of Us” pushes Joji’s lyrical ability and vocal cords to the absolute limit, and the glistening synth on “Die For You” is not terrible, so that was encouraging.
“NIGHT RIDER” has fast-paced hi-hats and an eerie opening bass. Paired with ethereal vocal cuts, it sounds very reminiscent of Wolves by Kanye West. Feels like something you can listen to in the car while speeding on the road. A good track. Not great, but good.
The lyrical content is majorly lackluster. Most of the writing is done by others. It doesn’t seem like he was involved in making this his own body of work. I do think this is probably mirroring how his label treats him - He’s not allowed to make his work his. He’s been shattered into literal smithereens.
He says it indirectly on “YUKON (INTERLUDE)” and I quote:
Empty choir, operated from above, my voice will be their voice until I’m free
My hands will be their hands until I’m free
88rising bends him to the point of literal suffering. Terrible.
Tracks
Ratings (outta 10) and additional thoughts:
Glimpse of Us- 9.5
Die For You- 8.9 (the child of “Glimpse of Us”)
1AM FREESTYLE- 6.5 (Not even a freestyle. The inconsistency is glaring. Nevertheless, great beat!)
YUKON (INTERLUDE)- 9.9 (Crazy to think an interlude goes this hard.)
Feeling Like The End- 7.0 (Vocals are fine, easy to jam to. Reminds me of Nectar. Very short. This album is very short ahhhh)
Dissolve- 5.6 (This would have been better without Autotune. Impressive guitar strumming gives this the Post Malone vibe)
Before The Day Is Over- 7.5
NIGHT RIDER- 6.9
BLAHBLAHBLAH DEMO- 5.5 (Slow. Joji sounds like a zombie here. Only the vocals make this feel alive.)
Final Thoughts
Final score: 6.9
I expected more — if these tracks were added on a Nectar deluxe, I would have been a little nicer, but oh well. More like experimental lo-fi filler content.
I think if he’s going this direction, next time he should be in charge for the entire album. The tracks felt disconnected while listening.
Maybe this will grow on me. I don’t know. If anything changes, I’ll re-review it.
It’s not a bad album, but compared to his other work, pfft, this is nowhere near them.
But for now, I leave you with this:
It should have been an EP.
