Joji would like to be taken seriously. Despite first gaining notoriety as a frantic comedy YouTuber, the singer has spent most of the last decade as a purveyor of somber alt-R&B. Though he managed to break out from 88 Rising’s roster of Asian and Asian-American artists and become a star in his own right, he’s been less successful at escaping the gravitational pull of his influences. He first pivoted to non-comedic music in the 2010s, and much of his recent work has felt stuck in that decade—2016’s pantheon of self-pitying stars (Drake, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean) continues to loom large. On , Joji’s first album since leaving 88 Rising, he attempts to modernize his sound, employing a scattershot approach that ranges from weepy piano ballads to slithering trap songs. But despite some intriguing production, Joji still feels distant and unknowable.