“Can’t help but wonder if I was well, would you still be here,” sings Joshua Bassett on the title track to his second studio album, Easier. While the streaming-age pop singer has always profited from the ability to release new music sometimes with only a week’s notice to the public, Bassett surprised his fanbase when he announced earlier this month that the new singles he had started to drop made up the track listing for a new LP, a follow-up to 2024’s The Golden Years. With his penchant for deep emotional hooks and insight, Bassett’s music has always been easy to get under your skin. He takes this talent to new levels on the appropriately titled Easier.
“Dancing on the Edge”, the second track, acts as a sort of sequel to his last album’s single “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” in that Bassett is no longer crying over hearing the song he shared with a former lover come on at the club. Now, he’s wondering how much time he might have with someone new, someone he’s not sure about: “Not sure if you’re still sure / That there’s more to what we are.”
The upbeat track still carries a tinge of sadness, reminding listeners that moments of joyful bliss in life are few and far between. It’s a theme Bassett hammers home on “Hold On”, in which he laments that he and his lover are just fooling themselves to kill time: “Calling it love, we’re just using our skin / You don’t even like me, why do you pretend?”
“Cried so hard it was kinda funny / But it’s never enough,” Joshua Bassett sings on “Clouds”, Easier’s best song, an ode to the realities of depression. As the singer explains how he tried to outrun the clouds until his heart gave out, he is silently preaching that the key to living with depression is not to outrun it, but not to ignore it so it doesn’t slowly increase its power over you: “The higher you climb, the harder the landslide will get you / Now I’m falling apart again / Is it even living scared to death? / The brighter the light, the darker the night, I wish I knew.”
Bassett has always put his personal demons on full display in his work, anywhere from his struggles with substance abuse to unresolved childhood trauma. What makes “Clouds” succeed is how accessible its subject matter is. While it’s certainly personal to Bassett, its lyrics are broad enough to apply to anyone listening who might be struggling with the same things.
While the singer is far from the first and will be far from the last to make others feel less alone by broadcasting their pain to the world, Bassett maintains a devoted fanbase while generally flying under the radar of mainstream pop music, for the most part favoring honest, self-written ballads over flashy collaborations or overproduced standalone singles. This approach also lets him keep surprising listeners with new material, dropping songs when the time feels right.
Perhaps the most radiant quality of Easier, and Bassett’s discography as a whole, is its incessant tendency to maintain a sliver of hope despite exploring some heavy subject matter. Whether it’s the haunting piano melody on “Clouds” or the power of knowing there are always more possibilities on the title track, Joshua Bassett reminds himself and all of us that it’s not over until we’re dead.