Japanese-Australian alternative R&B singer Joji has finally returned with a new single titled “PIXELATED KISSES” on October 14, his first release since his third album SMITHEREENS back in 2022.
Entirely written, produced, and recorded by Joji, the song clocks in under two minutes and marks a lean return to his signature vocal style, though the production packs a dense, bitcrushing texture that contrasts from his previously more laidback material, such as “GLIMPSE OF US,” “Slow Dancing in the Dark,” and “YEAH RIGHT.” The new single is built on balancing a hypnotic hook over a gritty rage trap beat, and the result is an icy and psychedelic take into Joji’s latest direction.
As one of alternative R&B’s most distinct voices, the long wait for newer material has stretched longer than most expected. But “PIXELATED KISSES” feels less like a comeback and more like a quiet reentry to the scene, a reminder of how Joji built a career on mood and emotion rather than spectacle.
Before his emergence as a musician, Joji gained a different kind of fame online — particularly as a YouTuber through his irreverent alter ego Filthy Frank, which defined internet humor in the early 2010s. As Frank, he created absurdist content ranging from food challenges to lore building of his show’s characters, the most popular among them is Pink Guy. played as himself. Joji’s shift from the realm of the weird to a global R&B mainstay is often cited by fans as one of the internet’s rarest reinventions.
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