If the only Joji song you know is the heart-wrenching ballad “Slow Dancing in the Dark”, you don’t even have half the story — and it’s a wild one. Before he became the brooding voice of Gen Z heartbreak, Joji went by another name: Filthy Frank. Yes — the same creator who brought the internet some of the most chaotic, meme-worthy YouTube videos ever made is also behind one of the most devastatingly beautiful breakup songs in recent memory.
George Miller, the man once known for pink bodysuits and absurdist yelling matches, now makes ethereal, aching music that racks up hundreds of millions of streams and defines a generation’s quiet heartbreak.
Q: People who only know Joji from “Slow Dancing in the Dark” might be shocked to learn you used to be Filthy Frank. How did that shift happen?
Joji: I’d been making music in the background for years — even when I was doing Filthy Frank and Pink Guy. But YouTube became this… all-consuming thing. It was chaotic, fun, and creative, but it was also physically and mentally draining. I got sick, and I knew I couldn’t keep doing it forever. Music was always where I wanted to go next.
Released September 12, 2018 as part of his debut studio album BALLADS 1, “Slow Dancing in the Dark” marked the moment Joji officially stepped out of the shadow of his internet persona.
Directed by Jared Hogan and edited by Miles Trahan, the video is strange, cinematic, and aching with emotion. Joji drifts through surreal, dimly lit spaces, bleeding in a tuxedo, his expression a perfect mirror of the song’s emotional paralysis: feeling too much, saying too little, breaking slowly.
Q: The video feels almost dreamlike, but also suffocating. Was that intentional?
Joji: Yeah. It’s that feeling of being stuck in something you know is falling apart, but not being able to pull yourself out of it. The surreal parts are the inside of your head — the confusion, the longing — and the slow pacing is like dragging yourself through it in real time.
Produced by Joji (under his real name George Miller) and Patrick Wimberly, the track fuses haunting synths, delicate falsettos, and lyrics that cut without raising their voice.
Q: There’s this balance between polished production and raw vulnerability. Was that hard to strike?
Joji: That’s always the fight. You want it to sound good, but not so good that it loses the human side. I don’t want my songs to feel “perfect.” I want them to feel real — even if that means you hear the cracks.
For years, George Miller dominated the stranger corners of YouTube. His characters — from Filthy Frank to Pink Guy — pushed absurdist humor to its limits, spawning viral trends like the Harlem Shake. It was loud, surreal, and often offensive by design — a deliberate chaos that changed internet culture.
In 2017, he announced his departure from YouTube, citing health issues and a desire to pursue music full-time. Fans were shocked — but it was the birth of Joji.
Q: Do you ever miss that old world?
Joji: Sometimes. It was fun while it lasted. But I’m in a different place now. I think if I’d stayed, I wouldn’t have had the energy to make something like “Slow Dancing in the Dark.” And for me, this is more important.
What makes “Slow Dancing in the Dark” hit so hard isn’t just the music — it’s the weight of the transformation behind it. A man who once thrived on chaos now channels that same creative energy into intimate, atmospheric songwriting.