Djo‘s synth-pop banger ‘End Of Beginning’ isn’t just one of this year’s biggest hits; it’s also one of the most evocative. “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it – another version of me, I was in it,” he sings on the blissfully wistful chorus. Before he shot to fame as Stranger Things‘ complex jock bro Steve Harington, actor and musician Joe Keery – he records as Djo, which is pronounced exactly the same as his first name – really threw himself into Chicago’s vibrant indie music scene.
Watching bands like Whitney and Twin Peaks hone their sound lit a fire in Djo, who had moved to Chicago from Newburyport, Massachusetts to study acting. “I was just a fanboy for a long time,” he recalls today. “Everybody was really hustling and to see people being so creative and inventive was really inspiring to me with my own music.” For several years, he was a member of Chicago psych-rock outfit Post Animal, but he left the band on good terms in 2019 after Stranger Things massively levelled up his acting career. That year, he released his first solo album as Djo, the trippy, Tame Impala-esque ‘Twenty Twenty’.
‘End Of Beginning’ originally appeared on Djo’s second album, 2022’s offbeat synth-pop opus ‘Decide’. But now, thanks to a TikTok trend rooted in the song’s ineffable nostalgic quality, it has become a mainstream chart hit all over the world. “Obviously people are using it [to show] their connection to Chicago, but other people are also connecting it to their version of that city or that time in their life,” Djo says. “That’s really the whole point of making music: that people take your song and apply it to their own life and make it their own.”
Because his acting career has continued to skyrocket – he also appeared in the 2021 Ryan Reynolds blockbuster Free Guy and last year’s fifth season of Fargo – Djo’s only live shows came back in 2022. “It’d be really nice to have a proper amount of time to really focus on [touring],” he says. “Obviously it’s just difficult with scheduling stuff for me at the moment. But eventually I’d love to do it, especially with some of these new songs that we’re doing.”
However, this doesn’t mean his songwriting well has run dry – far from it. In a laid-back and revealing interview, Djo discusses the origins of his breakthrough hit, plans to release new music this year, and the inspiration he finds in British pop alchemist Charli XCX.
What were you feeling when you wrote ‘End Of Beginning’?
“Basically it’s a reflection on my time in my early twenties living in Chicago, where I went to college and graduated and played in a few bands. I was kind of in the music scene [but also] waiting tables and auditioning for commercials and stuff…. And I guess it’s about how I was on the precipice of a big change in my life, but I was so anxious to live out my future that maybe I didn’t realise what a special time I was in. So in a lot of ways, it’s a song about a kind of nostalgia – you know [for] another version of me. But it’s also kind of a self-declaration to try to appreciate your present [and be aware that] your past will always stay with you and inform who you are.”
The song really captures that pang of nostalgia for something you can never get back.
“We kind of did it in this way that felt like an older way of recording: just writing in the studio quick and dirty and trying not to be complicated or overthink it. I think that has a lot to do with why the song feels the way it feels. I guess what I learned through that [way of working] is that sometimes over-baking things isn’t necessarily the best. Going detail-focused and really getting in the weeds can be fun and get great results. But [making ‘End Of Beginning’] has kind of informed the way that I’m trying to make stuff now, which is really capturing the inspiration for ideas as they happen naturally.
“With [‘End Of Beginning’], I felt like I was able to trick myself because I sort of knew what the song was going to be. I knew the structure and what I wanted it to be about. So once we got to the studio, it just, like, happened really quickly. And I think that that’s maybe why it has the directness that it has.”
You’ve mentioned that Charli XCX was one of the influences on your album ‘Decide’. What is it about her that you find inspiring?
“I feel like what she’s really good at is writing a song that is really about a specific thing. A great example is this song from her most recent album [‘2022’s ‘Crash’] called ‘Yuck’. It’s a great song about such a funny thing: her being over-stifled by a romantic partner, a boy who’s really obsessed with her. I feel like that’s such a cool concept for a song and she just nails it. And I feel like she does that pretty consistently with a lot of her music. I also love the production of her songs. I just think she’s really cool and doing her own thing and not afraid to be herself. Which is kind of the whole point.”
‘End Of Beginning’ obviously comes from an album that you put out in 2022. How far along are you with new material?
“Pretty far. I’ve got a lot of songs – probably more than I’ve had before to pick from. I had a lot of [acting] work last year – I went from job to job to job for pretty much a year. With acting, you kind of move to a new city and don’t have a community other than the people that you’re working with. So generally you have a lot of downtime, and in that downtime I chose to really buckle down and get back into playing acoustic guitar [with a focus] on songwriting. If a song sounds good on just a guitar or piano and [someone] singing, then I think generally it’s a pretty good song. So I was trying to just focus on that.”
Is it hard to make a release plan for your new music because ‘End Of Beginning’ is really taking off? I mean, who knows where it might go next?
“Oh I mean, I have no idea. I think we’re just gonna plough ahead [with] releasing new stuff because I wouldn’t want to hold out any longer. But definitely let [that song] live its life. It’s kind of doing its own thing at this point; I’m just watching it go and enjoying it.”
Is there anyone in particular you’d love to collaborate with in the future – an artist or even a producer?
“Oh man, so many. Jeff Lynne, I guess, is my top guy. I love all of his music and the way that he created it, and all the people he’s worked with… But you know, I haven’t really collaborated in that way with people who are outside of my direct friend group, because it’s a sensitive thing to do. But I do think that [going forward] it’s about putting yourself in these uncomfortable situations… I’ve kind of learned in acting that it’s really good to make yourself kind of uncomfortable because that way you find something new. And so I understand that it’s the right thing to do, but I haven’t quite put myself there in the music space yet.”
‘Decide’ is out now via Djo Music
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