celebrity shopping

Lay a Track With Joji’s Tiny (But Functional) Keyboard

Photo-Illustration: Damien Maloney

This project does not imply that NAACP_LDF endorses the Strategist or eBay.

This month, eBay, in partnership with the Strategist, went back to some of our favorite celebrity shoppers — including musician Joji — to ask them about things that they can live without and would be willing to sell at auction for charity. All proceeds will go to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (eBay is receiving and donating all proceeds and matching every dollar the auction earns). Click here to see all the stuff you can bid on.

I bought this keyboard about two years ago, when I started frequently traveling for work. There was one trip in particular where I had a lot of work to do, so the night before my flight, I went on to Amazon and ordered it via Prime. It had good reviews but was also the smallest portable keyboard I could find — it’s essentially as small as a sheet of A4 paper, and I haven’t seen anything like it. Turns out it’s also quite durable and better than a lot of other equipment I’ve used.

I’m not very tech savvy, but this was super-easy to figure out. For that reason, I started taking it with me to production and songwriting sessions. It for sure had its moment in those meetings: I’d show up, pull it out, plug it into my computer, and start working with it. While it’s not as big as a regular keyboard, it has the full ability of one. There’s a tool that helps lay out foundations, and you can easily switch octaves by pressing a button — the only downside is that you can’t play it with one hand on a super-high octave and one hand on another. I’ve laid down some really great ideas and foundations to songs using it. And to whoever ends up winning it: Don’t worry too much about rules when you play it. Plug it in and go nuts.

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Lay a Track With Joji’s Tiny (But Functional) Keyboard