Siobe Morling

Joe Keery (musically known as ‘Djo’) dropped his third album The Crux (2025) in April before embarking on his first, and ongoing, worldwide tour. This month, Djo surprised fans with the release of three new singles, ‘Carry the Name’, ‘It’s Over’ and ‘Awake’ included in a deluxe edition of The Crux with 12 new songs that have now escaped the cutting room floor.

“…lots of big things are in store for Djo and Joe Keery in 2025, especially for his fans.”

Keery shot to stardom after Stranger Things hit Netflix in 2016, when his character Steve Harrington quickly became a fan favourite. He continued to star in further acting projects including Spree (2020) and Free Guy (2021). On the side, Keery has been making music for 9 years with the band Post Animal and solo under the name Djo.

As a solo artist, Djo had been quietly building a fanbase in the alternative scene before his song ‘End of Beginning’ became a sleeper hit in 2024. As of today, the song has more than 2 billion streams on Spotify. This led to his critically acclaimed follow up The Crux’s release in 2025.

‘Carry The Name’

“This deluxe edition is a deeper dive into the process of the album and the time of Djo’s life when he was working on the record.”

The first single of The Crux Deluxe, ‘Carry the Name’, is the first song he has released since April. Here Djo continues his 70’s inspired sound with an instrumental reminiscent of work of Paul McCartney during the time of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club (1967) and Band on the Run (1973) while maintaining his modern edge. Djo produced this track himself and you can tell he had fun with its composition, despite its sadder lyrical tone. 

Themes, Sound And Lyrics

The song begins with the same line as ‘Lonesome is a State of Mind’, mirroring the first track on the standard edition of The Crux,  signalling that this song is thematically the same as the album. ‘Carry the Name’ deals with the fallout of a relationship, where he is still “scared of” pictures of himself and the subject. However, the subject is not the focal point of the song.

“He learns that both carrying on and working on himself will open him to “new love”.”

Djo goes through a journey of feeling rejected to moving on, aka “carry[ing] the name” and restructuring his point of view and self worth.

By the end of the song, the refrain used throughout: “and rejection is a new way to new love” is altered to “maybe reflection is a new way to new love”. He learns that both carrying on and working on himself will open him to “new love”. The sound matches these thematic changes. Djo limits the instrumental during times of reflection, followed by the piano joining in on the chorus. As he confronts his feelings in the finale there is a theatrical interlude before the final crescendoing chorus that closes out the track.

Djo’s Reflection On The Crux Era

This single, as well as the subsequent deluxe edition releases, is a companion piece to the album. Djo said in his announcement post for this release that “the biggest reason [he] wanted to release this is for the fans. It’s a thank you for embracing the project and allowing [himself] and [his] friends to live out [their] dream.” This deluxe edition is a deeper dive into the process of the album and the time of Djo’s life when he was working on the record. He also confirmed that this is the end of The Crux era and, lucky for his fanbase, he is already working on the next sonic chapter.

With a new collaboration with Tame Impala (‘Loser’), a successful hometown festival stint at Lollapalooza Chicago, reuniting with his former band Post Animal and the release of the Stranger Things final season around the corner, lots of big things are in store for Djo and Joe Keery in 2025, especially for his fans.

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Featured image courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here. 

An History graduate from the University of Leeds working full time and writing pieces freelance. Passionate about film, television, music and travel.

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