6/10
BALLADS 1 is the self produced, debut full length, studio, project from YouTuber turned musician George Miller aka Joji. BALLADS 1 is a dreary, dismal, twelve song, project that was largely anticipated by Jojis mainly internet based, cult following. This record follows his 2017 EP ; In Tongues, which for me wasn’t very enjoyable at all. Simply put, it was very bland and left a lot to be desired in terms of vocal performance and lyrical flavor. Thankfully BALLADS 1 is an improvement for Joji on most fronts especially in terms of the more experimental and better felt production, and the more level and sonically impressive vocals. I enjoyed Joji’s vocals for the most part on this record, especially in the second track ; SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK. This tracks catchy production, dismal lyrics, and absolutely EXPLOSIVE and vocally outstanding hook, make it one of Joji’s best tracks thus far. The track after that however, TEST DRIVE seems like the vocals are forced in a trap direction where they really aren’t supposed to go. This track and a few others show that all though the vocals on this record are an improvement for Joji there still are some tracks that leave a lot to be desired vocally. I would say the track WANTED YOU also falls into the category of forced vocally. After that we get probably the most light hearted track on the album ; CAN’T GET OVER YOU. This song features a very stripped down but extremely catchy beat with some simple hi-hats and kick drums throughout. It’s a fun track with some introspective, enjoyable lyrics. Following that, we get YEAH RIGHT. A decently infectious song with a good hook that’s easy to get into. The stripped down production with the piano yields a more moody and enjoyable tune. WHY AM I STILL IN LA, amplifies a trend we see a few times in this record with a huge christindo of distorted, dark, metal-like, instrumentals that only stop dead in their tracks in an instant to an on come of the more common dreary, lofi, sound this album is mostly made up of. It’s an interesting theme in instrumentals throughout this album. R.I.P. features an extremely sub-par verse from Trippie Redd which is nothing more than annoying and redundant but a solid vocal and lyrical performance from Joji. The closer I’LL SEE YOU IN 40 feels like the perfect mix of music from both Joji and Pink Guy. I love the sonic risk Joji takes with the absolute switch in instrumentals on this track. I didn’t have a problem with the soft ukuleles building up to the more hard hitting trap beat with some lost sounding, confused sounding, lyrics. My favorite part about this track is how it fades back into that same soft ukelele it ended with in the back half only to fade into nothingness. It feels like all the emotions Joji had to spill onto this piece of art have been summed up and the back half of this closing track is just him empty and humming to a soft ukelele that almost sounds like some of the instrumentals off of his stand alone record as Pink guy such as the soft UKELELE sounding guitars in “Stfu”. Its as if he has said what he has to say and is now again what he once was ; FilthyFrank. It’s one of the most experimental tracks on this thing and I really felt satisfied with it as a closer to this record. BALLADS 1 has its flaws but in the end it is a gigantic improvement from everything that we’ve previously received from Joji and it certainly musters up anticipation for his next full length project.