Joshua Bassett has been many things throughout his career: a child star, an advocate for those in need, the internet’s punching bag and a New York Times bestselling author. He’s a jack-of-all-trades, but the one he has truly mastered is storytelling. After the release of his debut record The Golden Years in 2024, Bassett retreated from the spotlight for a year and a half before releasing “Blue” as a single in late 2025. Now, nearly a year later, Bassett puts his storytelling at the forefront of his second album, Easier, which he surprised fans with by announcing it a week before its release.
Easier comprises nine songs: five singles and four released with the album itself. For a project so short, it’s surprising that so many singles were released (especially considering that his prior record only had two singles). Somehow, the singles feel fresh when placed in the context of the album — a remarkable feat. Over the course of the album, Bassett recounts to us in chronological order a tale of falling in love, breaking down and learning to pick up the pieces all over again.
We open with “Blue,” the first single from the project that debuted last fall. Bassett starts the song down on his luck, pining over what he calls “a dead-end love,” when entirely out of the blue he falls for someone new. His voice is soft throughout the verses as he relishes in the sweetness and sincerity of this new love, as if he gets too excited he might scare his new love away. “Blue” is like the older version of Bassett’s song “Common Sense”; there’s that same soft, hand-plucked guitar that has become a staple of his sound, but it’s layered with mellow horns and padded drums. There’s caution and restraint on Blue that isn’t as focused on some of his prior love songs.
Newly in love, we move into the album’s standout track “Dancing on the Edge,” a song about not knowing where a relationship might go but choosing to explore it now, no matter how precarious the situation may seem. There’s a clear sonic difference throughout Bassett’s discography when he writes about being in Los Angeles versus being in New York. LA songs tend to have an underlying sense of friction to them, whereas songs about New York almost sparkle like city lights. “Dancing on the Edge” is a perfect example of this sonic identity. With its driving synths, the track has an indie pop sound but with a slight 1980s edge; it’s a sound he dipped his toes into on “Dancing with tears in my eyes,” but instead he dove in headfirst and made the sound his own. Bassett is exceptionally skilled at creating softness in his music, but at times it can get repetitive. Bassett’s best songs are the ones where he pushes himself outside of his sonic comfort zone, and it would have been nice to see that come through a bit more on this album.
“Hold me” and “Selfish, Love” are the songs where we first start to see this relationship we’ve been following buckle under pressure. Hold me puts the faulty foundation formed in “Dancing On The Edge” at the forefront. The distance in the song’s production makes it feel like you’re overhearing an argument that your neighbors have every other night through the wall. By the end of the song, Bassett is repeating “Hold me one more time” over and over like a broken record, trying to make himself whole again. “Selfish, Love” is a particularly interesting track, where Bassett confronts his own emotional instability and the effect that it has on those he loves.
“Clouds” serves as the album’s turning point. Despite how hard he has tried to outrun his problems, they always seem to catch up to him. The song takes prominent images from the earlier portion of his discography and washes away the idyllic version of them he painted in the past. Spinning out on the California highway isn’t a symbol of teen rebellion; it’s a cry for help. As the clouds roll in, it becomes harder for Bassett to remain in the relationship, and as badly as he wants to stay, he knows that he can’t. Not without hurting himself or his partner.
With “I Still Care” and “Easier,” Bassett is forced to sit with the discomfort of his actions, forced to watch as the person he loved enough to let go moves on without him. “Easier” feels like the other point of view of “Renegade” by Taylor Swift and Big Red Machine. There’s a through line with Bassett in each of his projects about how loving is supposed to be easy, and in this track he questions if he will ever be able to pull himself together and find that ease again. “Ruined” shows Bassett trying to move on while being constantly haunted by the silhouette of his ex dancing through the shadows of his room. It calls back images from “Blue” like the sticky sweetness of honey and the simple domesticity of making breakfast in the morning, but now Bassett is entirely alone. The horns and strings swell at the end, and it feels like the relationship is being laid to rest once and for all.
The story’s resolution comes quickly in “No One Loves Like You,” a love song about finding someone who stands by you when things get hard and points you in the right direction when you’re not sure where to go. By the end of the album, Bassett has not fixed all of his problems, but he also knows that isolating himself won’t help him. He’s finally found someone he feels entirely safe with; there’s no doubt that this lover means it when they kiss or that Bassett is too much to handle. It’s the most action-driven song on the record; instead of telling us that this love is sweet and warm, he shows us that through tender vignettes of late-night phone calls and sunset drives.
Overall, Easier is a great project from Bassett. While it may not have as strong a visual identity as something like his Sad Songs In A Hotel Room EP, there’s a clear growth in his songwriting prowess. Every song on this album feels intentional; there’s no filler or place where he can hide from the listener or himself. Bassett doesn’t seem interested in the spectacle of being a main pop boy; if he were concerned with that, the rollout for this album would have been much different. Where Bassett has always shined is in his ability to connect with his audience and make people feel seen. This is an album for him and his people, a story for them to share and take comfort in. Easier is the kind of project Bassett was meant to make; it’s impactful, vulnerable and totally him.
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