Basic Being Basic

In case you haven't noticed, the combination of an artist being an actor and a singer almost never works for men, leaving the most important and successful names to women. One of the few male names that is having a good career in both ways is that of actor Joe Keery under the pseudonym Djo. And he is preparing his third album (The Crux) and released the good Basic Being Basic.

Perhaps less inspired than the great moments of the previous album (Decide), the song continues to show the artist's ability to deliver a track well balanced between the commercial side and the artistic side. Basic Being Basic is a catchy and fun synth-pop/alt-pop song that clearly shows that Djo is still on the way to framing a very specific sound from the eighties with a modern veneer without, however, ever wanting to update the referenced genres. And this works well, as the song's production manages to intelligently connect the dots in a safe and well-thought-out instrumental. However, the song sounds as if the artist was running in circles within his own sound, lacking something to take it to another level. This lowers the ball on Basic Being Basic which is also affected by the composition which can easily be seen as pretentious. In my view, the lyrics are within the realm that the artist has already delivered, showing a unique ability to talk about modern subjects in an ironic, sagacious way and with an effective pop flair. Furthermore, Djo's fun performance manages to round off the song, especially in the great climax of Basic Being Basic. And with this promising start, Joe Keery/Djo is the singer/actor we didn't know we needed to follow.