The popular Australian-Japanese Indie-Rhythm and Blues (R&B) artist, George Kusunoki Miller– known by aliases, Joji and Filthy Frank–released his fifth studio album, “PISS IN THE WIND,” on Feb. 6, 2026. I was very excited as I have been anticipating new music from the artist for a long time, but was ultimately disappointed with the outcome of his work.
Joji solidifies his detachment with his past-self in an emotional but flat piece of art. In Oct. 2025, Joji released a countdown for his new album after a three-year musical hiatus. Following four amazing, record-breaking albums, “PISS IN THE WIND” had a lot of hype to live up to. The album begins with the single, “PIXELATED KISSES,” an instrument-heavy song with soft and contrasting vocals that does not set the tone for the album as a whole. The rest of the album feels much different from this song with the exception of “Sojourn,” a song with parallel instrumentals, deeper lyrics and melodic singing that opposes the beat, making for a good listen.
The next song, “Cigarette,” has a shift in mood to a more somber overarching theme of the album. The deep bass and calm beat are what many Joji fans are used to when listening to his music, but this song has exceptionally quick lyrics compared to other songs. The song is a good listen but the boldness of the content and tone of the lyrics over-shine the beat and backing track.
Two singles, “Last of a Dying Breed,” and “Love You Less,” are great pieces of art. As “Last of a Dying Breed” has amazing vocal layering and the feel of the song is catchy as a whole, “Love You Less” gives a similar feel with the backing track being the catchy part. Both songs have lyrics that encapsulates his feelings as an emotional R&B artist with deep, depressing lyrics. Setting the bar this high in the beginning half of his project was crucial to solidify the tone going forward.
In “Hotel California,” Joji presents his most impressive vocal performance in the album as a whole. The song feels like an ethereal song from his sophomore album, “BALLADS 1.” This song’s slow, methodic backing track left me in a trance and the lyrics elevated the overall feel of the song. At this point in the album, there have been only two sub-par songs with the rest being well produced and ear-appealing.
Along with the good songs, the majority of songs fall flat as melodies and beats feel repeated with no substance to the lyrics. Tracks such as, “Strange Home,” “Silhouette Man,” “Fade to Black” and “Horses to Water” relatively feel like an ear sore and a chore to get through. Along with this, Joji had features from two popular artists in the rap scene, Yeat and Don Toliver, who both had sub-par performances.
“DYKILY” is the last appealing song in the tracklist with a fast-paced but mellow beat and backing track. This song has the deepest lyrics in the whole album with extremely depressing lyrics such as his repetition of the line “Don’t you know I love you” in different tones. Joji leaves all his emotions on the track, having a beautiful melody and backing track to elevate the mood of despair in his words. “DYKILY” is my favorite song on the album because of the impact of lyrics on an emotional level.
Joji, previously known as his YouTube persona, Filthy Frank, was known for his outgoing, provocative personality online garnering over seven million subscribers in four years. His slow, calculated descent towards musical freedom began with low-produced raps from his most well-known persona, Pink Guy. Joji’s “Pink Guy” persona’s music blew up in 2017 adjacent to his “Joji” soundcloud releases and released his final video as Filthy Frank and chose his career in soft, somber music over silly, meme-able music. This album feels like Joji is trying to be integrated into the modern rap scene but the genre differences are proving the change to be difficult.
Overall, this album has its highs and lows. Joji has always been an artist that should be on everyone’s radar because of his instrumentals and vocals, but this album doesn’t show his full potential. Riding off the high from “SMITHEREENS,” “BALLADS 1” and “Nectar,” Joji could have cut some songs and re-evaluated his choice in content. I would give this album a 3/5.
