Djo - Decide

Where Twenty Twenty introduced the world to Joe Keery's musical alter ego through a haze of psychedelic rock and dreamy shoegaze, DECIDE announces a full reinvention. Released independently in September 2022 and co-produced with longtime collaborator Adam Thein at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, the album trades the organic warmth of its predecessor for something sharper, more electronic, and more urgent, a synth-pop and synthwave record built for a world of millennial burnout, social media addiction, and the relentless noise of the digital age.

The album opens at a sprint with "Runner," a mostly electronic track that uses the hook "love and hate decide" as both a thesis statement and a warning about the emotional extremes that social media rewards and amplifies. From there DECIDE moves through dystopian visions and moments of genuine tenderness, from the panicked groove of "Gloom" to the disco-influenced brightness of "Change" and the wistful "End of Beginning," a two-minute piece of baroque pop about leaving Chicago and his years with Post Animal behind that went viral on TikTok in 2024, charted in 41 countries, and became the sixth most-streamed song of that year. "Half Life" offers a dystopian reckoning with the internet's grip on daily life, while closer "Slither" reflects on navigating newfound fame with the same playful unease that runs through the entire record.

Keery and Thein wrote every note during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the claustrophobia and introspection of that period runs quietly beneath the grooves. DECIDE is Joe Keery's most fully realized creative statement, one of the most surprising and enjoyable albums of 2022, and now available on blue swirl vinyl.