It’s only been a handful of months since Bas‘ [Bump] Pick Me Up EP (which was the home of one of my favorite songs of 2021/2022, “The Jackie“). But it looks like the Dreamville musician is finally readying a proper full-length follow-up to 2018’s Milky Way.
His first offering of 2023, Bas returns with “Diamonds.” “‘Diamonds’ stems from the stark realization that, as artists in the public light, our pains and traumas are consistently up for the public’s consumption,” Bas says. “We have to continually explore and give more of ourselves to feed the insatiable appetite of the audience. We experience and watch our peers go through life-altering and irrevocably damaging moments that just end up as clickbait or social media fodder. We make public appearances and wear masks in order to be who the public wants us to be. Shine bright for them. Yet our inner turmoils just fester underneath it all. The trappings of the life we chose, the dreams we pursue can oftentimes be the cause of our downfall.”
The somber track comes alongside a monochrome visual, directed by Ryan Doubiago.