Step aside Finn Wolfhard, there’s a new Stranger Things rockstar. Joe Keery, the actor who portrayed Steve Harrington on the hit Netflix show, has pivoted back toward his musical career. Under his musical moniker Djo, Keery debuted the shimmering single “Keep Your Head Up.”
The lively single boasts crunchy synths and Keery’s feel-good lyrical delivery. “Got to love yourself, go ahead touch yourself / Just like time alone your heart belongs to someone else,” Keery sings over disco-inspired instrumentals. Describing the cheerful tune, Keery said it’s “a much-needed bolt of positivity in an otherwise dark time.”
While “Keep Your Head Up” marks the beginning of a new era for Djo, it’s not the first song Keery has released under the moniker. Last year, Keery quietly released Djo’s debut album Twenty Twenty, which became a sleeper hit with fans of his laid-back sound. Djo is Keery’s solo project but he got his musical start in 2014. Attending Chicago’s DePaul University, Keery joined a few friends to form the indie psych rock outfit Post Animal. The band swiftly signed to Polyvinyl Records and has been releasing music ever since, even though Keery briefly dropped out of the project to begin his acting career with Stranger Things.
Listen to “Keep Your Head Up” above.
