How Joe Keery Turned ‘The Simplest Thing We Could Possibly Make’ Into His Biggest Hit Yet

For the better part of the last decade, Joe Keery has most of his time bouncing between worlds. In the more literal sense, he’s navigated to-and-from the Upside Down as Steve Harrington, the bad boy-turned-fan favorite, on Netflix’s Stranger Things. But outside of the hit series, he has balanced his growing prominence as an actor — recently starring in the dramedy Marmalade with Camila Morrone, and in the latest season of Fargo alongside Jon Hamm as his sheriff character’s son — with Djo, his ever-burgeoning solo music project.

For part of his 20s, Keery attended college and lived in Chicago, also cutting his teeth in the indie scene as part of psych-rock band Post Animal. Though he ultimately departed the band as Stranger Things caused too many constraints with his schedule, Keery continued to create music during his free time, ultimately leading to the birth of Djo. Debut album Twenty Twenty arrived in 2019 as an independent release through AWAL; three years later, he utilized the same route for his follow-up set, Decide.

Funnily enough, Keery, 31, is now returning to Chicago in a way — as his dreamy, synth-pop single “End of Beginning” from Decide has transformed into a viral hit in recent months. Reminiscent of new wave hits from the likes of Crowded House and INXS (Keery has noted influence from Annie Lennox’s “No More ‘I Love You’s'” as well), listeners have gravitated in particular to the lyrics in its chorus: “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it/ Another version of me, I was in it/ I wave goodbye to the end of beginning.”

“Your late 20s are a wild time,” he tells Billboard. “The gist of it is being sad that I wasn’t more appreciative for something in the moment — longing for something that’s over, but also being happy that it happened.”

Since the song has gained new legs in 2024, it has reached a No. 11 high on the Billboard Hot 100 (Djo’s first career entry on the chart), while also hitting No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs and continuing to gain momentum at alternative radio. It could be just the start of a breakout year for Keery’s musical project, as the multi-hyphenate notes he’s finishing a third album and hopes to go on a proper tour, which he still is yet to do in support of Decide, due to his acting career.

In the meantime, he’s also currently filming the final season of Stranger Things. At the time of our Sunday morning call, he’s enjoying a day off by moseying through a number of yard sales in Atlanta, one of which he says has happily yielded a vintage edition of The Settlers of Catan for just $5. Below, Keery tells Billboard about the makings of “End of Beginning,” compares successes as an actor versus successes as a musician, previews what to expect in the year ahead and more.

How did the song come together? Was the demo you posted on social media the first time that you worked on it?

No, I had had the idea. At the time [in fall 2021], I was living in Los Angeles. I had punched the chords out really quick and had an idea for a melody. That demo that I posted was me arranging and starting to figure out what the other parts might be. Then, I banged it out in the studio, at least the instrumental, pretty much in a day, with [co-producer] Adam Thein and [Slow Pulp drummer] Teddy Mathews. We all tracked the bare bones of it — guitar, bass and drums — and filled it in from there.

It was a swift process for this one. The album [2022’s Decide] is full of extra production in a lot of places, so I was just feeling like, “Let’s just make the simplest thing we could possibly make.” Verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus and be done with it. That was the goal: Try to work fast and not overcomplicate things, and that was what we did. The lyrics came a fair bit later. I really like to take the songs outside and walk around; that’s generally when I’m best at thinking up lyrics.

When did you know the song was a finished product?

You never really get to that point. I feel that, personally. There are always things that I wish we could go back and redo or improve this or improve that. But we gave ourselves until the end of March, and then at that point, we thought, “Okay, let’s just set a date for ourselves and then be done with it.”

“End of Beginning” has plenty of accolades to go around: your first Hot 100 entry, No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs, RIAA certified gold and many more. Do those sort of accomplishments resonate with you?

It has never even been on my radar, to be honest with you, with the style of music that I’m making. It’s really cool, but I almost feel like I don’t have the perspective to really appreciate what’s going on in a way. I think that in time, it’ll come to me even more. They’re cool milestones to hit, but at the end of the day, the greatest thing is being able to go into the studio and work.

Has the song’s meaning changed for you at all over time, or is still the same as when you created it in 2021?

I guess it does mean the same thing; I feel that I’m in a different place, though. Maybe I’ve slightly come to terms more with what I was feeling. I don’t know, your late 20s are kind of a wild time. I’m not a huge believer in astrology, but I do feel like there is something to the whole Saturn return thing.

Are there conversations happening right now behind the scenes about pushing listeners back toward the rest of Decide or even debut album, Twenty Twenty, versus trying to strike while the iron is hot with new music?

I’m much more focused on new stuff than old stuff — and finishing the new stuff. But the song has opened up possibilities for some new ears to hear the music, and I’m looking forward to getting the new stuff out, because it has been something that I’ve been working on basically since Decide came out. I’m really trying to embrace the newness that has come along with entering my 30s and now living in a different city as well. I’m excited. I feel like it’s a little bit different. It’ll be fun to see what people think.

Do you find that the location where you’re living and recording impacts the creation of the music itself?

One hundred percent, yes I do. I also think that the process of how you go about recording [impacts the music]. To me, it’s all about process over product and letting that process inform the music you’re making. I spent a lot of the last album starting making music on the computer, and I’m trying to take a different approach this time around.

Last time we talked, you told me how the sessions at The Sound Factory really inspired your affinity for in-studio collaboration. Does that still hold true?

Definitely. I have wanted my whole life to get into the studio. So, now to have a little bit more leeway under my belt, it was really cool to get into a professional environment. When you make music at home, you have all these tools, plug-ins and stuff that try to emulate real gear that exists out in the world. To be able to use some of that gear … I don’t know. Working at home is really cool because you can do it whenever, but to be able to go into a place to work feels really good. I really enjoyed that.

How does the song’s success affect your marketing strategy for this side of your career?

In the same way that we haven’t really been able to tour the music — a lot of that has been up to my schedule for shooting [Stranger Things] being all over the place — the same kind of thing with this marketing stuff. You spend all this time making the music, and you do want to market it properly. Now that the word is out a little bit more on the project, and it’s a little less of a secret between the people who know, a change in the way that the project is marketed could be cool. I’m still figuring it out, really.

You’ve talked ad nauseam about your disguises and making an effort to make Djo something of a separate entity than your acting career. When you’re having a big moment like this, is there any part of you that wants to maximize the audience by making the connection between Joe Keery and Djo abundantly clear for people?

Not sure about that. Maybe, but I’m not trying to shove it down anyone’s throat — it’s pretty easy to tell when things are like that. The fact that this all popped off naturally and happened on its own is best possible scenario for me. I’m really happy that it has happened this way. It’s cool for me because all the rules have seemed to changed a little bit.

How do you mean the rules have changed?

It just feels like the project is in a different place. Before, it was this thing that was sort of my own little secret. And now, I don’t know. It makes me think how I could treat it differently. I always am really interested when people use marketing to their advantage — that’s what I tried to last time with the disguise and the name. Maybe there’s a new way to embrace that, and I guess it’s time for me to figure out what that is.

Is there a difference in how you feel receiving praise for something you’ve acted in versus something you’ve created as a musician?

Definitely. [Being] a performer as opposed to a writer is really the distinction to be made that I’ve found rewarding. That’s kind of the point of art, in general: To share something that people take in as their own and repurpose it for their own life. To be on the receiving end of that is really cool. Obviously, I’ve had some amazing experiences being on [Stranger Things]. The fan base is incredible. To see people wearing your character as a Halloween costume, that’s unbelievable. But [music] does scratch a different itch, and it’s really rewarding. I just feel super lucky.

Are there are any plans for a tour?

Yeah, I’ve got a fair amount of work ahead of me on the show, but the plan would be to do that sooner rather than later. And hopefully to do it right.

I would imagine it’ll be extremely cool to see all the fans in person that either found Decide immediately or as a result of this more recent wave. Looking at numbers on a page can probably only yield so much of a dopamine rush.

Yeah, it’s funny. You release something, and in this day in age — and in my situation — I kind of just released it, and then it was like, “Okay.” I didn’t really play any shows, it just came out, and that was sort of it. So, for me, it still exists as this tiny little thing. This kind of reaction to this song has been a little bit of a wake up call like, “Oh, people are actually listening to this! This exists in the world.”

To see that physically embodied at the shows would be overwhelming I’m sure, but extremely exciting. Live performance is what got me into being an artist in the first place. Just doing plays and enjoying the energy you get in a live setting. I definitely am itching to get out there. At the end of the day, it’s really about the live experience.

Are there lessons that you’ve learned from creating Decide, Twenty Twenty or anything else in the past few years that are influencing how you’re making music now?

This song has taught me the lesson of specificity being something that is important. Also, becoming less interested in something sounding perfect or polished, and more interested in trying to capture something that is a one-of-a-kind thing, whether it’s a sound or a vocal take or a drum sound. I think those are the things that stand the test of time and make things sound different. I’m chasing that more recently.

A version of this story originally appeared in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.