On September 25th, 2020 Joji’s highly anticipated album Nectar was released after multiple delays throughout the year. While the wait was not his fault, as the Coronavirus halted some production, fan’s expectations grew along with their anticipation. With the album finally released, it turns out Joji delivered to his fans exactly what they wanted. This album was nothing short of a masterpiece, with lyrics of heartbreak and love along with the gloomy and intense melodies, all with Joji’s voice and vocals being perfect.
Joji, better known as George Kusnoki Miller, began his music career around 2 years before this albums release date, with his first album “Ballads 1.” Leaving behind his immensely popular youtube career as celebrity “Filthy Frank” gaining popularity was not an immediate struggle. However, off the bat, he had to impress his many fans and show them he has a chance in a music career. The popular song “Slow Dancing in the Dark” showed audiences just how much potential he had. His amazing vocals and 80s type synth melodies were all green lights for his music career. With his new album, audiences hoped for songs just as deep and intense. This was delivered off the bat, With multiple songs of the album being released early.
“Gimme Love” is one song that drew interest to this album’s potential. Released in April of this year, audiences finally had something to listen to, and they were not disappointed. With repeating lyrics of “gimme love” along with the slow, ballad-like ending to the song, the feeling of this song is a search for someone, and the feeling of love. I and all other listeners hoped the album would live up to the bar set by this song, which it did. On opening day for this album, I went into it not expecting even close to what I was going to hear. Off the bat, “Ew” struck at my heart and made me question everything in life. The vocals in this song are extremely deep, with lyrics such as “What does love mean. When the end is rolling in?” and an intense piano background. The feeling of this song is almost indescribable and should be listened to by all people reading this review. Other songs such as “777” have upbeat tempos and differences in vocals, all while being just as melancholy as other songs. Another song that caught my attention straight off of the first listen was “Afterthought.” The catchy chorus with soft, raspy vocals from Joji perfectly complements the high pitched singing of BEENEE, the featured artist on this song. The main chorus constantly plays over and over in my head after listening to his song, with lyrics such as “So lost in these diamonds, so lost in this paradise.”
Overall, this album perfectly represents the possibilities we can see in Joji’s future. While this album has overall a slow, gloomy theme, it can be appreciated by all listeners who understand deep vocals and an extremely talented singer. With improved songwriting from his last album, Joji not only met his bar of expectations, but he exceeded it by an insane amount. If his album and talent do not find him at the top of the charts in the future, I would be surprised.