DJO // Underneath The Wig: The Rise of DJO
From humble beginnings in dive bars to touring around the world with his friends, Joe Keery’s rise and journey as the solo artist Djo is here, and he’s not going anywhere.
Written by: Lauren Silvester
Photo by: Alyssa Bardol
Sunglasses, synths and nostalgia. By this point we all know that Joe and Djo are one in the same, but for a long time, he kept that under wraps. He flew under the radar and not many people clocked the connection between the two identities. A deliberate choice on his part. It seemed that he wanted to keep the worlds separate; leave the Hollywood noise behind and let the music speak for itself. No expectations. No labels. Just sound. And a wig.
To keep the illusion intact, Djo performed on stage in his stage uniform: shaggy wig, sunglasses, and a white jumpsuit that screamed Devo. It was a brilliant idea and it worked. When I first heard Roddy, I had no idea it was him– “the guy from Stranger Things” – it took me a couple years to piece it all together. In hindsight, that distance was the best thing as it stripped away the noise and let me actually feel the music, not just recognize the face behind it. It made the music hit way harder. I wasn’t hearing it as Joe Keery the actor, I was just hearing Djo.
In 2019, Keery dropped his debut album Twenty Twenty. A synth-soaked, nostalgia-laced journey that carries echoes of his psychedelic rock DNA from Post Animal. The first single, Roddy, instantly grabbed me. It was hypnotic, a little weird, and completely unforgettable. With its release, Joe carved out a unique corner of the music world, one that not many dare to explore, and he’s owned that space from the very start.
Standout tracks include: Roddy—the perfect introduction to his solo persona as Djo, setting the tone for everything to come. Chateau (Feel Alright)—a dreamy, romantic track about the rush of new love and Flash Mountain—a full-throttle headbanger that pays homage to his Post Animal days. A very solid first album on his part. (Side note, the single he released in 2020, Keep Your Head Up, is a fucking bop!)
In 2022, Joe released his sophomore album Decide. It sheds much of the dreamy haze from Twenty Twenty and leans into the raw, unfiltered edges of life, giving it a sharper, more grounded feel. The album is packed with reflections on fame, identity, and the personal and global events that shaped the past few years. For me, this was the album that hit the hardest when I found it.
Tracks like Gloom, Change, Half Life, Figure You Out, On and On and End of Beginning resonated deeply—they mirrored what I was going through in my own life at the time. Personally, Decide became a turning point, something that genuinely helped me begin my journey toward a better place. I can’t give Joe enough credit for the vulnerability and storytelling he poured into this record.
Now let’s talk End of Beginning. The songs release with Decide in 2022, however, the song wouldn’t gain widespread traction until the early spring of 2024. It became a viral song to use on TikTok which helped it garner unstoppable momentum. It currently sits well over 1.8 billion streams as well as Spotify’s illustrious Billions Club, as well as in the top 10 of most played songs of 2024. A truly remarkable feat and well deserved if I might add. The sentiment behind this song is why it went viral. The response. The reactions. The feeling.
People resonated with this song, myself included, because who doesn’t think about the past and reminisce about simpler times from time to time. Reflecting on the things that shaped us to who we are today and how we got there. It’s more than that though. It’s about moving forward from those moments and taking what we learned on the road ahead of us. Accepting the things that happened, learning from them to eventually saying goodbye to them.
Now, I can’t go any further without acknowledging Joe’s longtime collaborator and friend—Adam Thein. Since the release of Roddy in 2019, Adam has been Joe’s right-hand man behind the music. I’m sure that finding a producer that you can work that well with isn’t easy, but somehow, Joe found Adam and never looked back. What these two create together is undeniably special.
It’s a true collaboration that is built on trust, honesty, and a willingness to push boundaries. They’re not afraid to experiment, to challenge each other, or to chase whatever strange idea sparks in the moment. What they’ve found is rare in the music world. Adam is so incredibly talented and deserves all the praise in the world. Seriously.
On January 24th, 2025, Joe announced that his third album, The Crux, would be dropping on April 4th. This release marks a turning point in his career. With Joe shedding the Djo alter ego and embracing being authentically himself as an artist, it visually is a shift too. Where Twenty Twenty and Decide had minimal, stripped-back covers, The Crux is pure maximalist chaos and colour. If you look close, you’ll spot easter eggs scattered across both the main artwork and the vinyl edition.
Ahead of the full album drop, Joe released two songs from The Crux–Basic Being Basic and Delete Ya. Two songs that Joe referred to as being two sides of the same coin. And let me be the one to tell you— hearing Delete Ya while still getting over a break-up hits way too hard. But on the flip-side Basic Being Basic has a little bit of fuck you energy to it with a spiteful, middle-finger vibe. Strangely enough, it’s kind of a comfort track if you play it right after Delete Ya. A little heartbreak whiplash, in the best way. Right away, it became clear that this album was a departure from the first two and it was going to be bolder, heavier, more textured. But that said, even with the shift in tone, it would still hold onto that unmistakable Djo charm.
The day after announcing The Crux, Joe followed it up with even bigger news. The Back On You world tour was officially on and in a full-circle moment, his former band Post Animal was set to go alongside with him. Something special for them, absolutely, but also for those who’ve been following them all since the beginning. For the Djo portion of the show, the live band would feature the powerhouse lineup of: Adam Thein, Sam Jordan, Teddy Matthews from Slow Pulp, Trent Prall of Kainalu, and Post Animal’s very own Wes Toledo and Javi Reyes would be joining him on stage. The mix of raw talent and tight-knit chemistry between these guys will hit you hard. Pulling you in and leave you craving more. Trust me.
Joe recorded the new album at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York which is an iconic studio that’s hosted the likes of Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Taylor Swift and many more. Having access to a studio of that caliber allowed Joe and his team to take this album to another level, having had previously limited resources for his first two LP’s.
It allowed everyone to have the space to create music that paid homage to some of Joe's favorite musicians but also step into a new era of his own music. The album truly became a family affair with Joe also bringing his sisters to be a part of the album this time around alongside his band of brothers— his band mates from Post Animal and Djo, respectively.
April 4th. The Crux finally drops. I was up at 5:45am ready to hit play and let me tell you, this album doesn’t ease you in. It throws you in the deep end. Emotional whiplash from the first track to the last. The maximalist energy isn’t just visual but it’s weaved into the sound of the whole album. The whole thing feels big, layered, and unapologetically bold.
You’ve got the high-energy standouts that are absolute fucking bops like— Link, Charlie’s Garden, Basic Being Basic and Gap Tooth Smile. Then there’s the heartbreak cuts of— Potion, Delete Ya and Fly which all sit heavy on your chest. And finally, the emotional gut-punches— Lonesome is a State of Mind, Egg, Back On You, Crux and my personal favorite Golden Line. That one wrecked me. No sugarcoating it. It’s raw, honest and had me sobbing.
This album feels like Joe cracked open his personal journals and scored the pages with music. It’s vulnerable without being soft, emotional without losing its edge. A testament to the fact that Joe Keery isn’t just playing around with sound. He’s building stories, one track at a time.
I was lucky enough to see Djo live at Laneway in February of this year. His set was tight as it was only 40 minutes but he made every second count. We got (then unreleased) Gap Tooth Smile, the bold Basic Being Basic, and a killer lineup of fan favorites: Gloom, Figure You Out, Roddy, and Flash Mountain (which absolutely goes hard live, by the way). But it was Chateau (Feel Alright) and End of Beginning that took on whole new meanings to me after seeing them live.
At times he would pull his in-ears out just to hear the crowd, and when he heard that thousands of people were screaming his lyrics back at him, he lit up. During Chateau, he even called out how good the crowd sounded. Then came End of Beginning and live, it hit differently. He stripped it back slightly for a more acoustic sound, and it worked. The whole crowd felt it and it was like we were all riding the same wavelength.
It wasn’t just a song, it was a moment. And somehow, in the middle of all that noise and energy, Joe looked out into the crowd and caught my eye at one point. Just for a second but it landed. A small acknowledgment, mid-song, that turned an already powerful track into something personal. A full-circle moment I’ll be holding onto for a long time.
It’s no secret to the people in my life just how much Djo’s music means to me. I had listened to bits and pieces over the years but I never listened to albums in their entirety. Until one night last year, when I was at a point in my life when I felt completely lost and overwhelmed by everything, I refound his music and listened to it all. As soon as my headphones went on and I hit play, the world went quiet.
And for the first time in months, so did my mind. I wasn’t caught up in the chaos of where my life was heading. I was just in the music, letting it pull me out of myself and into something that felt bigger, safer. I’ve never connected with music so deeply before. It made me feel understood. Like I wasn’t alone in the mess of it all. While finding myself lost in the melodies and synth, I found that something in me had sparked. It was a flame I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. One that burned for me finally and not for anyone else. A reminder to stop living for the expectations of others and start living for myself. I can’t thank him enough for contributing to that.
Joe Keery’s evolution as Djo has been nothing short of fascinating to witness. What started as a side project of his, has grown into a fully realized artistic identity, one that refuses to play it safe or stick to expectations. Across three albums, he’s proven he’s not just an actor who makes music. That he’s a true musician through and through. He is unafraid to take risks, get weird, and get personal. With The Crux, he peeled back the final layer of disguise, stepped out from behind the wig, and owned what we knew he could do.
From starting out doing basement gigs in Chicago to world tours with his chosen brothers, Joe Keery’s journey as Djo is one that keeps unfolding, track by track, moment by moment. And for those of us who’ve been there since Roddy, it’s been one hell of a ride. I have a feeling that things will just keep going up from here on out.
