Miller's start as an entertainer began on his now defunct YouTube channels, DizastaMusic, TooDamnFilthy, and TVFilthyFrank, that consisted of rap songs, rants, extreme challenges, ukulele performances and a bizarre show titled The Filthy Frank Show, with most of the main characters played by Miller, including the titular character of Filthy Frank. To complement his TVFilthyFrank channel, Miller produced comedy hip hop music under the name Pink Guy, also a zentai-wearing recurring character on The Filthy Frank Show, with his songs featured on the show and his discography spanning two full-length projects and an extended play. Miller's videos had widespread impact, including starting a viral dance craze known as the Harlem Shake, which was directly responsible for the debut of Baauer's "Harlem Shake" song atop the Billboard Hot 100.
Many YouTube personalities have made major or cameo appearances on The Filthy Frank Show, including h3h3Productions, iDubbbz, JonTron, Michael Stevens, and PewDiePie.
In December 2017, Miller stated he has retired the channel to focus on his music career, under the name Joji, producing more nuanced and serious music, releasing the EP In Tongues, which peaked at number 58 on the Billboard 200, and his debut studio album Ballads 1, which reached number 1 on Billboard's top R&B and hip-hop chart in November 2018. With this, Miller became the first Asian-born artist to do so. Miller's music has been described as a mix between R&B, Lo-fi and trip hop.
In 2013, George Miller — called Joji — wasn’t known for his music. He was known as a hugely popular comic YouTube personality called Filthy Frank, in the tradition of Jackass. But there are no traces of that earlier, cruder identity on the night he descends on Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom for a packed show.
He’s there to perform his brand of hypnotic R&B for a crowd that seems to know every word. For good reason: his debut album, October’s Ballads 1, topped Billboard‘s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, becoming the first project from an Asian-born artist to do so, and his songs have since racked up nearly half a billion streams on Spotify alone. Joji’s music is melancholy and layered, mixing tender melodies with edgy lyrical content. His persona is low-key funny, social media feeds dappled with bad-angle selfies and jokes delivered in meme language. His videos are cryptic and dark.
“I’m just a quirky, quirky guy,” he shrugs backstage just before the show in the theater’s cramped green room.
Joji, who is half Australian and half Japanese, grew up in Osaka, Japan. He taught himself how to make music using GarageBand after hearing Lil Wayne’s 2008 hit “A Milli” and wanting to recreate the beat. (Joji’s other favorites early on were 50 Cent and Limp Bizkit.) “I tried drum lessons for a month and didn’t learn anything, couldn’t do it,” he admits now. He tested out ukulele, piano and guitar — but is the first to admit that his strength is not in formal training, but instead in his knack for unusual production.
http://time.com/5535187/joji-interview/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joji_(musician)
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