Last November, New York-via-Osaka singer-songwriter Joji (George Miller) revealed to i-D that Brooklyn based film production duo BRTHR had directed an “epic” music video for “Windows”. He noted the contrast between his aesthetic of downtempo lo-fi confessionalism and the director duo’s penchant for extravagant action, and revealed that “We’re all really good friends so we plan to work together a lot in the future”. Miller pointed out that Alex Lee and Kyle Wightman had also taken over his artwork direction, and said that they were “amplifying the gritty direction that I’m going in”.
A day after the BRTHR-directed bombastic music video for the 88rising multi-collab "18" was released, the futuristic action-packed and anime-inspired music video for “Windows” was dropped. Joji himself appeared in familiar form, melancholically making a phone call under a shower and struggling while being wrapped in chains underwater. The video stayed true to his initial description of being “a loose narrative of a girl going around this futuristic city slaying demons and what not in order to save me”. He was, as described, the "damsel in distress” - who just happens to be wearing an eerie gold-toothed mask. The slayings involves a knife, a machinegun and bare-handed heart extraction.
The song’s chorus interpolates Travis Scott’s 2015 druggy hit “Antidote”, perhaps as a subtle rejection of the idea of using drugs to self-medicate. Its verses depict a depressed (and possibly suicidal) state of mind that wishes to fully withdraw from the external world: ‘I know when the wind blows, wind blows/ Feels better in my dreams though, dreams though/ I just wanna sleep forever/ Please just let me leave, forever’. It may allude to Miller’s emotional burden of living with the "several serious health concerns”, which made the outrageous physical antics of his Pink Guy persona ill-advised.
The supernatural and stylish action extravaganza on display here strikes an artistic contrast with the simple symbolic expressionism of “Will He” and “Demons”, but it also makes sense. There’s only so many ways for Joji to appear to be drowning in his melancholy in his visuals - it was only a matter of time before he started mixing things up. Perhaps his lyricism will eventually catch up with the Japanese pop culture references in his visuals, and begin to dwell on his biracial identity and bicultural upbringing.
