Joshua Bassett
Sarah Barlow and Stephen SchofieldAfter teasing new music for the past two weeks, Joshua Bassett has delivered on his on promise. The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star released three new tracks — “Crisis,” “Secret” and “Set Me Free” — on Friday (Dec. 3).
Bassett opened up about the trio of songs in a press release, revealing that the songs came from a difficult period of his life. “While it’s been one of the most challenging periods in my lifetime by far; it has ultimately led to immense growth,” he said. “I’ve been up, down, and everywhere in between… Each of these songs pinpoint a different moment in time, in my processing.”
On “Crisis,” the 20-year-old talks of being burned by a former lover in the aftermath of a break up. “But don’t you dare act like I didn’t love you/ Don’t go thinkin’ that I didn’t hurt, too/ Don’t you ever wonder if I’m okay after all you put me through?/ Half the shit you’re saying’s only half-true/ Messin’ with my life as a career move,” he sings in the chorus.
Bassett revealed that all earnings from “Crisis” will be donated to mental health organizations in perpetuity, to help others with their own healing journeys.
“My hope is that those going through similar things feel heard and seen and can step closer to healing. While it’s important to express my truth in art, I do not wish ill will on anyone, nor do I endorse using art as fuel for negativity,” he explained in the press release. “I truly hope the peace I’ve found amidst this challenging year encourages others to keep going and know that there really is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Meanwhile, on “Secret,” Bassett feels double-crossed by his love interest. “Swore that you only had a crush/ You told me that you would cut him off,” he sings. “I should’ve seen it coming then/ My friends all warned me I should run for the hills/ But I defended you still/ ‘Cause I know rumors could kill.”
“Set Me Free” sees the end of the trilogy, with the actor hoping to make amends and put the drama of his situation behind him in an attempt to move on. “I don’t wanna be rude or on the defensive/ But I’ve been goin’ through it too/ And I know you feel used, I know you’ve been hurt/ Anything I did to make you feel worse/ I’d take it all back if I could,” Bassett sings on the first verse.
Watch the official videos for “Crisis,” “Secret” and “Set Me Free” below.
NEWS
No matter what you thought of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, there was only one undisputed winner by the end of it all: the reaction community in the worlds of streaming and YouTube. Your favorite content creators broke down the bars, reacted to all the most shocking moments, and helped this showdown become one of hip-hop's most culturally significant and resonant moments in a long time... For better or worse. See, the battle's technically not over yet, but only because the 6ix God's idea of victory is clearly quite different. In his federal defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group – his label – for releasing K.Dot's "Not Like Us," he named various content creators who allegedly helped boost the track's widespread popularity and, as a result, its supposedly defamatory nature.
Furthermore, the specific allegation that Drake brings up in this highly controversial lawsuit is that UMG "whitelisted" copyright claims for YouTubers, streamers, etc. concerning "Not Like Us." This means that they would be able to monetize their content without facing a copyright claim from UMG over "Not Like Us," and this isn't really an allegation because various creators have backed this up. But a few important (alleged) caveats that people are talking about online need to be clear. First, "whitelisting" supposedly happens on behalf of a record label behind a song like the West Coast banger, and UMG is instead the distributor of that track. Secondly, as rapper and online personality ScruFaceJean brings up as seen in the post below, tracks like "Push Ups" were also "whitelisted" by its team.
Along with Jean, many other of your favorite content creators spoke out against this Drake lawsuit. Zias! and B.Lou, for example, spoke with their lawyer about the possibility of countersuing for emotional distress, as they found the Toronto superstar's accusations and his implication of them very disturbing and misguided. NoLifeShaq also dragged The Boy through the mud, calling him "soft" and positing that, whether "whitelisting" happened or not, they would react to "Not Like Us" accordingly as they did to his own tracks.
In addition, it's important to bring up that many others fans have pointed to how Drake excitedly used streamers to generate hype and reaction clips for his own diss tracks against Kendrick Lamar. The most direct example is with Kai Cenat, whom he texted to "stay on stream" before dropping "Family Matters." Ironically, the Twitch giant appears in this clowned-upon defamation lawsuit as an example of what the OVO mogul's accusations and implications are. And one more thing: there is no direct link between monetization and algorithmic boosting on sites like YouTube. With all this in mind, content creators seem to feel almost insulted at the idea that they only reacted to the two biggest rappers in the world beefing with each other because one of them would allow them to make money. If Drizzy knew the first thing about the reaction community, maybe he wouldn't have included this...
