For Joe Keery, releasing an album that didn’t really make waves in 2022 only to see it explode two years later wasn’t on his bingo card. But that’s exactly what happened with DECIDE, his synth-drenched second album as Djo, and specifically with its standout track “End of Beginning.” The song, a meditation on identity, homecomings, and the unavoidable passage of time, has become a viral favorite, breathing new life into an album Keery figured was already filed under “been there, done that.”
“I wrote it pretty specifically about my own life,” Keery says. “But the cool thing is seeing people adopt it for theirs. That’s kind of the whole point, right?” He’s not wrong. The point of art, that is. But what makes “End of Beginning” stick isn’t just the universality of nostalgia, it’s how it captures that very specific sting of returning to a place that doesn’t see the you-now, only the you-then. “Going back to Chicago now, after everything, it’s just… it’s heavy,” he says, reflecting on the years he spent there in his early 20s. “There’s pride, sure, but there’s also this sadness. You can’t go back, you know? Even if you wanted to.”
And yet, that sense of moving forward while glancing over your shoulder seems to suit him. While his Stranger Things co-stars are no doubt plotting their own post-Hawkins trajectories, Keery’s already knee-deep in dualities, not just as Djo but as an actor stretching into new territory. His latest film Marmalade plays with that too—literally. “It’s like a character within a character,” he laughs, recalling the fast-paced, twisty shoot. “We were running and gunning, just trying to make it all happen. But that’s the fun of it. The chaos.”
Keery doesn’t shy away from the chaos, either. Take social media, which he admits he has a love-hate relationship with, something that threads its way through DECIDE. “It’s just a bit of an echo chamber, isn’t it?” he muses. “I mean, my phone’s my world? That line sounded big when I wrote it, but really, it’s about these little moments, scrolling in a room. That’s what life feels like sometimes.”
If he’s wary of the noise, he’s also conscious of not getting too precious with it all. “You can’t treat every song like your magnum opus,” he says, shrugging off any notion of artistic self-importance. “Sometimes it’s the small stuff that hits.”
And hit it has. Despite being, as he puts it, “done with the record,” Keery found himself listening to DECIDE again after its recent rise, only to nitpick like any self-respecting artist. “I would’ve changed a couple things,” he admits, laughing. “But that’s just how it goes. You never really stop editing yourself.”
Not that he’s staying still. Fargo gave him another chance to flip expectations, stepping into a role that, on paper, might not have screamed “perfect for Joe Keery.” But showrunner Noah Hawley saw something. “It was a leap of faith,” Keery says, “but that’s what I want—to keep pushing, keep surprising people.”
As Stranger Things wraps up, he’s ready for the next phase. “That show has been the joy of my life, truly. But now? It’s about rediscovering who I am after that.” With Marmalade, Fargo, and his viral resurgence as Djo, it looks like he’s doing just fine.
Sink or swim? Keery’s already paddling ahead.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the video below.
