Better Known for Stranger Things, at First
Joe Keery, best known for playing Steve Harrington on "Stranger Things," has quietly released music as Djo since 2019 — dreamy, 70s-tinged psych-pop that he largely wrote and produced himself, closer to a genuine creative outlet than an actor's vanity side-project.
For years, that's exactly how it was received: a curiosity attached to a famous face, rather than music taken seriously on its own terms.
"End of Beginning" and a Two-Year-Late Viral Moment
"End of Beginning," originally released in 2022, went properly viral in 2024 — driven largely by one specific lyric about missing Chicago that turned into a widely used, nostalgic short-form video sound.
The delayed breakout flipped the usual script entirely: instead of an actor dabbling in music, Djo suddenly had a legitimate hit single, on merit, two years after anyone had stopped expecting one.