Originally from Melbourne, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jasmin Bade released her first single, the cracking country-pop track ‘I’m Fine’, in 2019. It received airplay in over 50 countries and saw Bade named as ‘one to watch’ by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Recently Bade released her second single, ‘X’s and Y’s’, another strong country-pop song with lyrics that many will find relatable.
‘I would come out of these relationships, and so would my friends, and we would look back a while later and think why did I even date this guy in the first place?’ says Bade of the song’s origins. ‘I think everyone has an ex or someone in their life that in hindsight, seems like a huge mistake. There are so many sad songs about being single, when in reality, more and more people are choosing to stay single for longer and longer every year. So I wrote “X’s and Y’s” because we’ve all been through it, and now all there’s left to do is laugh about it!’
There is certainly a carefree quality to Bade’s vocal in the song, and not a hint of woe-is-me, making it a refreshing take on a love song – because it’s more about prioritising happiness than searching for ‘the one’. Given that ‘I’m Fine’ explored issues around mental health, with these two songs Bade is prepared to look at different angles for lyrics in a genre that can tend towards the anodyne. The phrase that springs to mind is ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down’ – there’s plenty of sugar in Bade’s vocals, and some great medicinal truth-telling in her lyrics.