After a year out of the limelight, American singer/songwriter Joshua Bassett returns to the stage, reflecting on vulnerability, creativity, and his debut album, ‘The Golden Years’ in a candid conversation with Atwood Magazine.
Stream: ‘The Golden Years’ – Joshua Bassett
In the through lines where creativity begins and ends can we find ourselves lost in the artistry of real emotion.
Here lies a passionate escape, a journal of all we are and will be, and a reality only present in creation. Creativity is to be inspired and to be inspired is to be reflective and to be reflective is to be personal and to be personal is to then be creative; a never-ceasing pinwheel, if you will, and music, both written and sung, can play a similar tune. Music can move, be felt, shared, and personal all at once– a reflection of time at its most creative, and singer-songwriter Joshua Bassett recognizes its place amongst the harmonies of his debut album, The Golden Years (July 26, 2024 via Warner Records).
It’s not sole success that drives the 23-year-old California native, but pure, unadulterated passion. Songwriting has been more than a pastime for Bassett. It’s an escape fashioned on his insatiable need to put his emotions down on paper and reflect on the past he hopes to understand and learn to love. Every stroke of the pen, strum of the guitar, and hour spent in the recording studio is a moment of clarity for the artist. And it’s one he’s been trying to fully realize for the last four years, now finally bound in the echoes of a single album.
“The first song and the last song on the album I wrote four years ago, and the rest of it has kind of happened in between,” Bassett explains, reflecting on a process he describes as emotionally vulnerable. “I went through lots of different seasons of life in creating this album, but I finally feel like it’s ready. It finally feels like all the songs sort of fell into place.”
I went through lots of different seasons of life in creating this album, but I finally feel like it’s ready. It finally feels like all the songs sort of fell into place.
The last four years for Bassett have been nothing short of buzzing. From gaining prominence with his leading role as Ricky Bowen in the Disney+ show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and releasing his EP Sad Songs in a Hotel Room to embarking on a sold-out debut world tour and starting the “Sammy Sundays” initiative built on distributing care packages to those most in need, his life has seen various ups and downs best described as a show of true resilience. He has overcome a health scare, found faith that he preaches wholeheartedly, and tuned into his most authentic self; albeit, he admits is still something he is working on.
Today, he exudes confidence – raw, unfiltered confidence encasing happiness I couldn’t help but notice as he spoke about his latest project. In what is an album contrived on the many journaled sentiments of his early 20s, The Golden Years is a love letter to his past and present meant for all to find solace in. Inspired by records like Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour and Harry Styles’ self-titled, Bassett has pushed his creativity in ways he’s never imagined with sounds that emulate both albums almost perfectly. In fact, he describes his collaborators Tommy English and Jeremy Hatcher – both of whom have worked on Musgraves and Styles’ records – as having much to do with the attained vision.
“On the first day we met, we wrote ‘The Golden Years,’ the song, and it was like a paradigm shift of, ‘Well, we’re going to different territory,’” he shares. “I finally felt like we were able to deliver the vision that I had.”
However, even in the successes of creativity, there are shortfalls in its midst. We shift to talking about his efforts with putting passion to paper and he admits that coming to terms with his head and heart hasn’t always been an easy feat.
On the struggle, Bassett explains, “There were a lot of times where Tommy and Jeremy would always sort of hold me accountable and say, ‘Let’s just push through a little bit longer.’ There were so many days where, for example, we were writing this weird house music, dance track, and it just wasn’t working.” His face cringes instantly, making it easy to sense just how important getting his voice right was.
He continues: “I wanted to give up so badly, but I just went outside for five minutes, I came back in, and then we wrote ‘Mirror’ in less than 10 minutes. I just realized I had to work through all that emotional turmoil.”
And emotionally honest is exactly how I would describe this album. There’s the tenderness of “Don’t Let Me Down,” the sanguine melancholy of “The Golden Years,” and complex harmonies layered in “Biting My Tongue.” “Cherry Blossom” ushers in a hypnotic ‘80s tune you’ll find yourself lost in and “Little Rita” welcomes soft melodies so sincere, it feels personal to all who listen. Even “Mirror” touches on that candidness, bridging the gap between artist and audience in a lyrically genuine self-reflection. There is a story here, honest and true, vulnerable at best, dawning from the album’s start and enduring till its end.
I ask what story he wants the album to write for his fans. His answer is much like how he views the story it writes for him: A reflection of the best of times and the worst of times, an illustration of our most transformative years, and a beacon of resilience that he hopes will resonate beyond him. But he also acknowledges the ever-morphing presence of music and how meaning is not, and cannot be stagnant.
“All you can do as an artist is just be as honest as possible, and it’s weird because sometimes even when you’re really specific or if someone can’t relate, there’s the sincerity in the lyrics that can resonate with their spirit. From there they can lay their own story on top of what they hear,” he says.
For fans hoping for a glance into Bassett’s mind, The Golden Years does just that. It goes beyond songwriting and fleshes deeper into the wells of his soul, past, and honest becomings. Here, Bassett has challenged impersonality, finding comfort in release and solace amongst the lyrics he soon gets to share. We go on to speak about his favorites on the album, but as soon as I had asked the question, I knew that choice would be difficult – each song’s drastic difference makes the decision undeniably “all of them.”
All you can do as an artist is just be as honest as possible, and it’s weird because sometimes even when you’re really specific or if someone can’t relate, there’s the sincerity in the lyrics that can resonate with their spirit.
Instead, I pivot to asking about his take on the term ‘presence’ when creating. I could see the perplexity on his face like he’s never been asked that before. I had him stumped. But even in his confusion did he find the words in true Joshua form – “Have you seen the Pixar movie, Soul?”
“That is what happens when you’re present. It sets you in that different state where things happen naturally. That’s why I love tours so much,” Bassett begins to say, a smile etched on his face as he now speaks about his upcoming tour. “You just have no option but to be present, and the best part about [being present] is hearing them sing the songs back to you.”
Music lives within Joshua Bassett. It resides in his heart and it’s what makes what he creates so alive. So, can you feel the music? Are you lost in the melodies? Windswept in the way it makes you move so freely it’s almost like your feet aren’t touching the floor. Can you see a kaleidoscope of colors as every note plays, beat drops, and lyrics are sung? Are you still biting your tongue? The Golden Years is here to let the unsaid find its clarity, and it welcomes all to the revelations. Bassett has found his voice with his debut, and while his story is being written with every strum that follows, it is also just beginning.
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© Harry Toohey
© Harry Toohey
The Golden Years
an album by Joshua Bassett
