Joshua Bassett
When: 19th September 2024
Location: O2 Academy
Joshua Bassett has gone from High School Musical to pop rock megastar. Coming to Glasgow’s O2 Academy on 19th September 2024.
Like his former co-star and frequent collaborator Olivia Rodrigo, pop rock prodigy Joshua Bassett rocketed from his starring role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series into global pop megastardom.
Bassett’s own musical story began long before he secured a lead role in the Disney series, though. Born and raised in Oceanside, California, parents Taylor and Laura chose to home-school their six children (Jordan has five sisters) where they’d adopt a creative, explorative perspective on the world. This encouraged the musically intrigued youngster to teach himself ukulele, guitar, piano and even drums, which he’d play in church. Surrounded by music, it was an almost certainty he’d start performing at a young age. And he did.
His stage debut came to fruition at the age of just eight, having starred in a community theatre production of High School Musical on Stage!, which had a touch of serendipity given he’d be cast in the franchise’s newest spin-off a decade later. The first of thirty plus musicals Joshua has starred in since, the budding talent continued to express himself by songwriting, penning his first proper composition for his homecoming date at the age of fifteen.
Chasing his dreams
But in order to make it big, Bassett knew he had to chase his dreams in Los Angeles, so relocated ninety miles up the coast to the City Of Angels. Despite bagging bit parts in numerous high-profile series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Lethal Weapon and Dirty John, the ambitious sixteen year old lived in his car for a considerable period in order just to get by. Humbled by the experience, it’d shape Bassett’s identity moving forwards and his philanthropic disposition.
Joshua scored his big break in 2019 at eighteen years old, however, when cast in the lead role of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alongside fellow lead Olivia Rodrigo. The pair struck up a tangible chemistry both on-screen, but also in the studio, co-writing and duetted on the series’ title soundtrack ‘Just For A Moment’ – which has gone on to rack up nearly 100 million streams on Spotify.
Bassett’s effortless allure and musical aptitude drew comparisons with his predecessor Zac Efron as well as the chameleonic pop charmer Harry Styles. With a legion of besotted fans now behind him and bags of talent at his disposal, Warner Bros. Records won the battle to sign him, with Joshua’s debut single ‘Common Sense’ dropping in April 2020.
Fan-favourite singles
A slew of fan-favourite singles followed suit, in ‘Lie Lie Lie’ and ‘Only A Matter Of Time’ ahead of his 2021 eponymous debut EP, with Bassett continuing to work on-screen and behind the scenes on ‘Crisis / Secret / Set Me Free’. The trio of emotional tracks raised money for mental health organisations, which included a donation of $20K from Bassett himself. After a bout of septic shock left him hospitalised, the singer eventually came out as queer, which liberated him ahead of his most creative period yet.
2022 singles ‘Doppelgänger’ and ‘smoke slow’, EP Sad Songs In A Hotel Room, and four further tracks later that year (‘would you love me now?’, ‘SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID’, ‘i’m sorry’, and ‘Different’), would generate millions upon millions of streams for Bassett, who had established himself as a titan of pop music much like his peer in Rodrigo.
A series of US headline shows and a short tour of the UK and Europe in 2023 offered fans this side of the Atlantic a glimpse of the rising star, before Bassett teased his debut full-length studio album, The Golden Years, in 2024.
