Jo1: Going full Animal in LA
Written by: Forever Calhoun
If you don't know Jo1 let me break it down.
Famous Korean entertainment company CJ ENM goes to Japan to create a spin off of the Korean survival show Produce 101 called Produce 101 Japan. Out of 101 contestants, 11 (now 9) debuted.
Sho, Ren,Ruki, Junki, Keigo, Takumi, Syoya, Sky,Mame. Debuting on March 4, 2020 they really had all the fame from domestic and international fans with the way produce works with their voting system "powered" by fans and if they were all ready established or gained traction it meant more screen time.
Now with their first English album Animal that dropped on October 1st they have started conquering North America. By going to Toronto, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and LA. Working with the most awesome producer Dem Jointz, Jo1 showcased a whole new side of themselves.
On October 11th, Jo1 performed at the Novo in LA. With JAM (Jo1 fans) coming from their home country and others like me coming from other states. The energy from VIP'S to Jo1 was instant the moment they walked on for soundcheck. They expressed that today was the final show, but everyone has to give their best. They performed half of Whatcha Doin from their new album then fully did 2 slow songs Into You and Romance. I tried my very hardest to sing Romance because its one of my favorites, but it's difficult in the moment because Jo1 likes to interact so much I didn't want to embarrass myself. Also one of their videographers had their camera on me for so long that was more of a reason not to.
Going into the show they played born to be wild overhead and we all lost it, but they never actually performed it. They opened with Whatcha Doin and performed 4 others songs for the first set. I was surprised they didn't talk for a long period in between, but Sho is really the one most comfortable with English and he did try his best translating as much as he could. I personally wished they were given a translator, so Sho wouldn't have to try to translate every time but it also wasn't that bad because through watching their YouTube content I can kinda pick out certain words in Japanese. But the other members really gave it their all to try if they knew some English, and I'm always happy when international artists try to English because they don't always have to.
Sorry, for the long ending rant. My favorite song they performed was Be Classic because before hearing the new album that was my favorite song. My new favorite song (s) are Down and status. Down and Status to me feel like similar songs , but have their differences. Down does have a club vibe to it. Status for me to describe it would be laid back party vibes. Halfway through the show Kiego came out to hype us up and started the barking and just overall insanity by the end. Like at one point he started "what does the fox say" and I was thinking "OMG, NOOOO". But I also think just from that Keigo is now a contender to being my favorite.
Jo1 have been finding their footing in North America for about 4 years now, and with Animal they've finally have a really strong base to cement themselves into the general publics minds. I want more people to know about Jo1 not just for their music, but also the artists behind it.
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