An Ode to the Windy City: Djo and Sufjan Stevens
Project Goal
To explore how music reflects youth in transition, blending emotional storytelling with social, economic, and cultural context.
Platforms
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts
Year
01/24/2026
My relationship with music has always been as analytical as it is emotional. From early exposure to albums my parents praised from the 1950s through the 1990s, to watching MTV countdowns, browsing YouTube playlists, reading album reviews and musician-authored novels, watching documentaries, attending concerts within a 60-mile radius in my teens, and later working in music video production, styling, and hair and makeup, I have developed a deep understanding of how sound, image, and cultural context intersect.
I have long been interested in what music reveals about personal experience and society. This exploration examines recurring themes across generations, particularly how cities like Chicago continue to shape musicians. Hearing Djo's End of Beginning immediately recalled the storytelling and feeling of Sufjan Stevens' Chicago, prompting me to consider why certain cities persist as hubs of artistic output and why youth continue to gravitate toward them.
This investigation also led me to reflect on challenges facing more saturated cities such as New York and the ways economic pressures, especially rising rent, impact the creative community. By analyzing recent national rental data and observing firsthand the experiences of friends who relocated to Chicago, I was able to contextualize the city's appeal both culturally and practically.
Through this project, I explored how music, place, and societal conditions interact, revealing the forces that shape both artistic expression and the communities that nurture it.
#djo #sufjanstevens #joekeery #musicdiscovery #chicago
#djo #sufjanstevens #joekeery #musicdiscovery #chicago
Not many songs can stir both tender nostalgia and a quiet, aching sadness at the same time.
Djo and Sufjan Stevens somehow manage this with songs rooted in the Windy City of Chicago. Djo’s “End of Beginning” from the album Decide (2022) has recently picked up a surge of momentum, resonating with listeners drawn to its reflective pull. Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago,” from the album Illinois (2005), has long been treasured, frequently pronounced one of the best albums of its decade and later adapted into the stage musical Illinoise in 2023.
Both songs, though different in sound and storytelling, carry a shared thread of youthful idealism. They linger on the ache and hope of becoming someone new through movement. Leaving a state is never just geographical. It’s the quiet shedding of one life in pursuit of another, driven by belief rather than certainty. A story as old as time, replayed on different streets.
Chicago becomes more than a setting in these songs. It feels like a threshold, a place where reinvention is possible. In “End of Beginning,” the city holds the weight of looking back, of realizing that growth often arrives disguised as loss. In “Chicago,” it is forward motion made audible, restless faith in the road ahead. Together, they frame the city as both origin and departure.
Chicago & Growth
Chicago offers something rare for young people trying to find their footing. Compared to cities like New York or Los Angeles, the cost of living is more forgiving. This matters deeply at a stage when wages often lag behind rent and independence feels both urgent and fragile.
As of right now, a one-bedroom apartment costs roughly 30–47% less in Chicago than in NYC. What this means, in practice, is time and room to breathe. Young musicians and creatives can afford rehearsal spaces, equipment, and the hours it takes to develop. They don’t have to forfeit the things that make city life magnetic: community, culture, and the feeling of being surrounded by others who easily resonate. For many coming from small towns across the U.S. and beyond, places with limited creative opportunity, Chicago offers a rare balance. A place to grow without having to disappear.