Joji
Nectar

While Italy is inexorably retreating into itself, winter looms and promises to be colder and sadder than usual. But fortunately, 2020, despite everything, has also given us small, tiny joys, and personally one of these is an album like "Nectar".

George Kusunoki Miller, known as Joji, is one of the most interesting Japanese artists (though he is half Australian) in circulation, but I would define him more as a genius of our times: he rose to fame in the early '10s as a YouTube star with his characters Filthy Frank and Pink Guy, and his channels garnered millions of views thanks to politically incorrect and absurd videos (unthinkable today) where he managed, among black humor gags and 'tastings' of cakes made of hair and vomit, to invent the Harlem Shake, the dance that went viral in 2013. But the extraordinary, almost unique feat for someone from the web world, is that Miller, once setting aside his cheeky YouTuber persona, remains credible in his new singer role, as demonstrated by the good success of the 2017 EP "In Tongues" and especially the excellent debut album "Ballads 1" of 2018, which was also certified gold.

"Nectar" is his second album and, like its predecessor, offers a melancholic Pop/R&B sound, where Joji's velvety voice reveals his vulnerable soul, balancing between emotional crises and his discomfort with his new famous singer status. Notably, "Nectar" has as many as eighteen tracks, but it manages to balance this with a decent variety of sounds while maintaining its sad and delicate 'touch': the album includes more intense moments such as the orchestral opener "Ew", the minimal "Modus" and the beautiful ballad "Like You Do", more typically pop songs like the excellent singles "Daylight" (produced by Diplo), "Sanctuary" and "Gimme Love", and episodes with vibes that touch on rock ("Run") and hip hop ("Tick Tock" and "Pretty Boy" with rapper Lil Yachty). There are also pieces more linked to the artist's lo-fi beginnings like "Upgrade", while in the latter part of the album one can detect more electronic incursions ("777", "Reanimator") almost on the verge of dance, as in the concluding "Your Man".

Even with a fairly substantial tracklist (which could perhaps be slightly slimmer), and even without a real hit following the trail of "Slow Dancing In The Dark" that made him known to many, this album confirms Joji as one of the best Pop/R&B artists in recent years, managing not only to maintain the level of "Ballads 1" but to be, in a way, its (small) evolution, thanks to greater sonic variety.

Winter is coming. Let yourself be lulled by "Nectar".