Australia’s Mo’Ju Drops New Song ‘Put It On Hold’

Mo’Ju, the queer singer-songwriter formerly known as Mojo Juju, is giving music lovers something to jam out to with their new, upbeat single, “Put It On Hold.” Released through Wilder Records and co-produced by Clams Casino and Brux, “Put It On Hold” is Mo’Ju’s first solo since the release of their 2018 record Native Tongue, a powerful, concept album that tackles hard-hitting issues like racism, identity, and more. It became one of the most poignant and critically acclaimed Australian albums of the year, and rose Mo’Ju, who is Indigenous Australian and Filipino, to prominence.

OUT FRONT caught up with Mo’Ju to talk more about the new track, how it came to be, and what more they hope to accomplish as a LGBTQ artist.

Hi, Mo’Ju! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. How are you coping during these unprecedented times?
These are pretty strange and unusual times, but I feel like everyone is sort of going through similar things. I am grateful to be in the position I’m in, and I try to practice that every day. I have a roof over my head, great people around me. Right now, we are in a pretty serious lockdown, but I have a three-month-old, so that’s been keeping me pretty busy. I also have a makeshift studio at home that is allowing me to keep being creative.

You just released your new single “Put It On Hold.” Can you tell us more about how it came about?
I kind of wrote the hook of the song, like, a year or two before actually getting into the studio. I had been going through a breakup, and I just sort of wrote this line into my notes on my phone, and I didn’t think about it again. It never eventuated into any kind of song. Then I was in New York for this songhub, it’s a songwriting camp run by APRA, which is the Songwriting Royalties Association. They do this camp in Brooklyn, and I was in L.A. at the time, so I was like, I’ll just throw my hat in the ring and see if they want me to come over. They said yes, so I went to Brooklyn and ended up in a session with a producer named Clams Casino, who I am a big fan of. I was so excited to be in that session with him and another excellent songwriter called Brux.

Musically, everything all kind of came together quickly. Once we started going, it started flowing really quickly; then I was like, I need to come up with some lyrics. I opened up my phone, and that line was there. Like, OK, I feel like I have enough distance from what I was going through to now reflect on this with some perspective. Because I wasn’t in the emotion anymore, it was kind of easier to write about. Kind of coming off the back of something like my previous singles and my album that I had been touring, that had been so much about family history and a lot of really personal stuff. It has been really politicized in a lot of ways. All of a sudden, I was writing a pop song. This is kind of cool.Why did you want to write this song?
I wanted to write something that was a little less political. Have some space from talking about really personal, heavy stuff. The reason why I write any song is because I love writing music. Being in a studio writing and creating is my happy place. I get so much joy from doing it. The story I wanted to tell with “Put It On Hold,” I wanted it to address some serious issues but still be a fun and poppy song.

My previous song “Native Tongue” became so politicized, that it started to take a toll on my mental health. Just constantly being asked to talk about trauma and finding myself in conversations I didn’t necessarily always want to have. Sure, they are really important conversations to have, but it was, like, two years of pretty much just talking about the same stuff over and over. I just needed something different.

What do you hope audiences take away from it?
Right now, with everything that is happening in the world, it is easy to get weighed down by the heaviness of it. I just want this song to be fun and hope people get some entertainment out of it. I hope people are dancing around the room and letting off a bit of steam.

This is your first single since Native Tongue came out in 2018. Why the long pause?
To be honest, I have been on the road. I was touring so much. I did actually put out a little collaborative EP at the end of last year called Ghost Town, and it’s a collection of songs about ghosts. Not like actual spooky ghosts, but like the things you wish you had said in an argument or when you like drive through a town or part of a town you have been to in ages. It just brings up all these memories and feelings about someone you haven’t seen in a long time. So, they are just different versions of those kind of ideas. Besides that, I toured, like, 200 shows in 18 months. It has been a busy time.

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Native Tongue is the album that brought you to prominence in Australia, and like you said, it tackled some heavy issues: racism, identity, etc. Would you mind sharing a little about how some of those issues have personally affected your life?
Those issues affected my life pretty directly, intimately, and unrelentingly. My mom is mixed race. She is indigenous First Nations, and my father is an immigrant from the Philippines who came to Australia. So, in a way, I am kind of like a third culture. Growing up in very regional remote parts of Australia, I experienced a lot of racism, and I felt like I wasn’t enough of one thing or another.

You internalize a lot of that, and it has taken me a lifetime to step into my aspect of identity art entirely. I often felt like I wasn’t enough of one thing or another. On top of that, growing up queer in remote regional parts of the country, I felt like an outsider. So, I just decided to write an album that was about my own story but also sort of talked a lot about my family history as well.

What more would you like to accomplish with your platform as a LGBTQ artist?
For me, one of the biggest things is just being visible. My identity is intrinsically political. You cannot separate the politics from who I am. So, being visible is sort of a form of protest. It’s not necessarily about always writing political music. I will always talk openly about things that I believe in, and I will always speak my truth and use my voice as a platform.

My aim is to challenge injustices and use my voice to the benefit of people whose voices aren’t necessarily being heard and raising other voices that need to be heard. There is also something really powerful about being joyful and making silly pop songs. Like “Put It On Hold,” it’s not that deep. I can’t talk about it in the same depth that I talked about “Native Tongue,” but at the same time, it’s still a political act. It’s just a breakup song that you can dance and have fun to.

What’s next? Do you have any other, upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
Yes! I have so much coming, but currently, I am working on an album. I guess I am making use of the time where I am confined to my home.

To stay up-to-date, follow Mo’Ju on social media, or visit mojojuju.net.