Djo

Djo is the musical alias of American musician and actor Joe Keery, best known for playing Steve Harrington on the Netflix horror-fantasy series Stranger Things. As Djo, Keery creates wry and hooky anthems, blending vintage-inspired synthwave and power pop influences. He debuted in 2019 Twenty Twenty and gained wider attention with 2022's Decide, the latter of which spawning the viral 2024 hit "End of the Beginning." In 2025, he returned with The Crux, which featured the single "Basic Being Basic."

A native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, Keery studied theater at DePaul University in Chicago, eventually earning an acting degree. While in school, he and several friends formed the psych-pop band Post Animal and released their first EP, Post Animal Perform the Most Curious Water Activities, in 2015. That same year, he landed his breakout role as Steve Harrington on Stranger Things, which debuted the following summer on Netflix. Following the show's massive success, Keery continued to balance his acting career while still playing guitar for Post Animal, eventually leaving the band in 2019.

During filming breaks on the Stranger Things set, Keery began recording songs in a makeshift studio in his rented Atlanta house. Playing most of the instruments himself, he developed a melodic, psych-driven bedroom pop sound that eventually culminated in the full-length release Twenty Twenty, which he issued under the name Djo in 2019.

His sophomore album, the '70s psych- and synth pop-inspired Decide, arrived in September 2022. Recorded at Treehouse Studios in Chicago, it featured co-production by Houston-based producer/instrumentalist Adam Thein. It reached number nine on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and was followed by a companion two-song release, D-Sides, in 2023. In March 2024, the Decide track "End of the Beginning" was released as a single. It quickly picked up steam after users on TikTok started using the song (especially the part where Keery sings "And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it/Another version of me") to underscore their posts. Buoyed by the viral attention, the song cracked the Top 40, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2025, just as Stranger Things was wrapping its series finale, he returned with his third Djo full-length, The Crux. Once again co-produced with Thein, it found Keery further expanding his vintage-inspired '70s and '80s influences, mixing synthy new wave textures alongside more organic rock and power pop sounds. The album was anchored by the singles "Basic Being Basic," "Delete Ya, " and "Potion." ~ Matt Collar & Timothy Monger