A radiant release of raw passion and inner strength, JOSEPH’s new single “The Sun” is utterly inspiring and irresistibly catchy, empowering us to be our very own guiding light.
Stream: “The Sun” – JOSEPH
Feeling good doesn’t feel bad anymore…
Anxiety is all too often our greatest inhibitor, holding us down, keeping us back, and preventing us from being our best possible selves. It’s the invisible enemy – a demon of our own creation, haunting our every move and lurking in the periphery of every moment.
We don’t have to live that way; we deserve to be free, unencumbered by the shadows of our minds. Last we heard from folk-pop band JOSEPH, they were reminding us that “it’s not selfish if you save yourself” – that we have the power and the potential to overcome those roadblocks, and that we must first believe in ourselves before we can be our own savior. “It’s in your head and it’s under your skin; I know that you can calm the storm in your nervous system.” Through inspiring lyrics and glistening folk-infused pop, the sister trio advised that we can’t always be our own lifelines, but we are so much stronger than we think we are.
Their latest single once again confronts anxiety head-on, harnessing that power within to be our very own beacon shining in the dark. “I’m done playing a game that can’t be won,” JOSEPH’s Meegan Closner sings full of resilience and resolve. “Now I’ll rewrite what I believe in. I thought I was the light switch you turned on, but I am the Sun.” A radiant release of raw passion and inner strength, “The Sun” is achingly intimate, utterly inspiring, and irresistibly catchy: An empowering song that shines, bold and bright, with the light inside us all.
It was all so blue
Got used to the way I looked wearing a dark mood
And it all felt true
All the shadows and the bad notes that I sang for you
Well you wanted me small
So you could feel like someone at all
And I played along
Normalized telling myself I was wrong
Released March 16, 2023 via ATO Records, “The Sun” is the soul-stirring second single and title track taken off JOSEPH’s forthcoming fourth album, The Sun (out April 28). Following January’s summery and seductive “Nervous System” (which found its way onto Atwood Magazine‘s 86th Editor’s Picks), “The Sun” once again finds sisters Natalie, Meegan, and Allison Closner boldly beam with an inner glow. Named after their hometown of Joseph, Oregon – a small city of about 1,000 people, located some 300 miles east of Portland, close to the Idaho border – the trio have been dazzling listeners with their dynamic, emotionally-charged folk pop sound for nearly a decade now.
Their fourth album promises to be JOSEPH’s most personal, and most passionate, record yet. Already, its first two songs find the band members diving into their innermost depths, reckoning through their experiences living with – and learning how to overcome – anxiety. “The Sun” rises full of resounding energy, soaking listeners in its uplifting warmth and emboldened, invigorating rays of inner strength and possibility:
Don’t try to tell me how I’m feeling
I’m done playing a game that can’t be won
Now I’ll rewrite what I believe in
I thought I was the light switch you turned on
But I was the Sun
“Many times I have found myself in a position where I’m stuck in cycles of negative self talk,” JOSEPH’s Meegan Closner shares with Atwood Magazine. “Times when I have seen myself as bad and struggle seeing any other possible truth. This song is my higher self speaking to that me. It’s me reminding myself that I am more than I think I am.”
Used to just make do
On a steady stream of stress dreams and twisted truths
Now it’s all so new
I’m uncomfortable any time I hear good news
I get the ache of healing and the pain of hurting confused
Don’t try to tell me how I’m feeling
I’m done playing a game that can’t be won
Now I’ll rewrite what I believe in
I thought I was the light switch you turned on
But I am the Sun
“The Sun” is breathtaking – a smoldering, cinematic reminder that we can be our own light in the dark.
It’s yet another spark of empowerment and inspiration; of musical charm, charisma, and wonder. JOSEPH are on a warpath fighting their own anxiety, and by all accounts, it seems they’ve got the upper hand. “Feeling good doesn’t feel bad anymore,” Meegan Closner sings toward the end of “The Sun,” emerging from the shadows and rising high. Anxiety truly is our greatest inhibitor, but as the Closner sisters show us, we don’t have to play its games; we can rewrite the story and be the victors.
Get lost in JOSEPH’s illuminating rays and become your own sun.
Feeling good doesn’t feel bad anymore…
Should have gotten paid for how hard I worked
To stay yours
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Stream: “The Sun” – JOSEPH
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© Shervin Lainez
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