Joe Keery – the actor behind Steve Harrington from Stranger Things and musician who records under the name of Djo – has announced a new album.
The singer-songwriter will release The Crux on April 4 via independent record label AWAL. A tracklist has already been revealed, and to drum up anticipation, Keery has dropped his first creation of 2025: a new song called "Basic Being Basic."
Check out our selection of free stations streaming Djo music at Live365.com.
The upbeat tune is a critique of superficiality and a wish for more authentic connections. “It’s kind of a shot fired to anyone who’s trying to be of the moment,” Keery vocalizes, “I think you’re scared of being basic.” Keery also gives in to the speak-singing trend with this tune, narrating in a sardonic deadpan.
"Basic Being Basic" comes with a lyric video. It starts off with Keery in front of the camera, followed by a crowd of people all eating lunch in an outdoor space. The video is first shown in reverse – with the group of people walking backwards and individuals putting food from their mouths onto their plates. But once the visual hits the two minute mark, everything appears normally, in fast-forward.
"Basic Being Basic" was first teased by Djo on social media platforms on January 7, 2025. Later on that same day, a pre-save link for the track would be discovered. On January 12, Djo would post another teaser for the song to his social media pages. On January 16, Djo posted an Instagram story where he gave a 15 second teaser for the song.
Keery co-produced The Crux with Adam Thein, and he recorded it at New York’s Electric Lady Studios. It's his third Djo album, following Decide (which included his Tiktok-trending hit "End of Beginning") and 2019’s Twenty Twenty.
In addition to his new album, Djo has an international tour coming up. It's set to start in early February, with stops in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, North America, and several European countries. You can find more information and tickets here.
Watch the lyric video for "Basic Being Basic," view Djo's tour dates and see the tracklist for The Crux below.
The Crux tracklist:
01 Lonesome Is a State of Mind
02 Basic Being Basic
03 Link
04 Potion
05 Delete Ya
06 Egg
07 Fly
08 Charlie’s Garden
09 Gap Tooth Smile
10 Golden Line
11 Back on You
12 Crux
Check out our selection of free stations streaming Djo music at Live365.com.
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Article Image: Joe Keery at a film premiere in Los Angeles. (Jean_Nelson via DepositPhotos.)
