The most recent new episode(s) of Stranger Things premiered on July 1, 2022. That’s less than three years ago, but for whatever reason (probably something to do with our brains processing a dangerous amount of information every day, idk), it feels much longer. Thankfully, that Dustin-less streak is nearly over: the fifth and final season of the Netflix series is set to debut later this year.
So, what has the cast been doing over the past three years?
Well, Millie Bobby Brown married to Bon Jovi’s son, and David Harbour tied the knot with (then reportedly got separated from) Lily Allen. But the cast’s connections to the music world has more direct links.
Below, you’ll find four Stranger Things cast members who have released music since the season 4 finale, beyond just Winona Ryder lip-syncing to “MacArthur Park” in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Although that’s good, too.
Finn Wolfhard
Finn Wolfhard has starred in a pair of PUP videos, so you know he’s got kick-ass music taste. And if you don’t know, check out his public Spotify playlists. There’s “music” (featuring Modern Baseball, Jeff Rosenstock, and SWMRS), “Summer” (Delroy Wilson, ABBA, Jonathan Richman), and “best Wilco” (shout out to “Misunderstood”), among many others. This June, the punk- and rock-loving actor, who previously put out music with the bands Calpurnia and The Aubreys, is releasing his debut solo album, Happy Birthday.
“Music for me has always been something that I can control,” Wolfhard said in a statement. “And while I’m really grateful for acting and for a long time, it really provided me that peace, it’s just a different thing now that I’m an adult and that it’s a career. I still enjoy it a lot, but when I am by myself and get to play guitar and write a song, it’s a different kind of feeling I’m after.”
The nostalgic first single “Choose The Latter” sounds like a lost gem from the Elephant 6 collective. It’s “music” playlist-worthy.
Djo
To be honest, the first time I saw the name “Djo,” I assumed it was a Las Vegas pool party DJ. I’m proud to admit that I was very wrong. Djo is the musical moniker of Joe Keery (formerly of Post Animal), one-half of the best character pairing on Stranger Things (we’ll get to the other half later). The first Djo album came out in 2019, and while it received favorable psych-rock comparison to Tame Impala, it was 2022’s Decide that proved Djo was more than a vanity project. The album’s breakthrough hit, lush synth-pop single “End Of Beginning,” has over 1 billion streams on Spotify and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
For his next album, Djo is going in a promising new direction: The Crux is inspired by late 60’s and 70’s pop (appropriately, I also hear shades of The 1975), as you can hear on early singles “Basic Being Basic” and “Delete Ya.”
The Crux is out April 4, followed by a spring and summer tour.
Jamie Campbell Bower
Jamie Campbell Bower — he of the Bob Dylan butt tattoo — was the lead singer of the English punk band Counterfeit. But when they broke up in 2020, the actor went solo with stark songs like “Run On Me” and “Devil In Me,” both of which could have worked as the theme for FX’s Justified.
“I wanted to capture the energy of the room, you can’t replicate that digitally so what you hear is what we got on the day playing together for the first time,” he told Schön about his process. “The video too was very organic. There’s a sort of DIY-ness to art that I really enjoy and makes the process so much more seamless. Rather than asking permission to do or make something. We just do it. That, in my opinion, is how it should be done.
Campbell Bower hasn’t released a full-length album, but he’s continued to share new music, including last year’s haunting “The Witch of Bodmin Moor” and a passionate cover of Sleep Token’s “Euclid.”
Maya Hawke
Finally, we get to Maya Hawke (Steve and Robin platonic friends for life!). She’s released three LPs with label Mom + Pop Music, the home of Magdalena Bay, Courtney Barnett, and Tiny Habits, as well as the pleasant Clipped Wings EP.
“I’ve never held anything back when I’ve made my records. I never tried to be less me. And I wasn’t ever being shy. But as I got older and got to know myself as a human and as a writer, I got better at describing my feelings, having self-awareness, knowing where I am and how to talk about it,” she told Variety.
With every release, Hawke has further developed her indie folk-pop sound; she wouldn’t be out of place touring with Phoebe Bridgers or Big Thief.