Joshua Bassett teases 'vulnerable' original song he wrote for final season of HSMTMTS

Sydney Bucksbaum
·3 min read
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When Joshua Bassett sat down to write an original song for the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, he was ready to bestow some hard-earned wisdom on his onscreen alter ego Ricky.

Bassett has written multiple original songs for the Disney+ series in the past, but this one (co-written with Tova Litvin and Doug Rockwell) meant more to him than all the previous ones combined because it came from a real place. "'Speak Out' — I hesitate on the title because we had to change it a couple times — it's a duet between Ricky and EJ [played by Matt Cornett] and it's about being able to say the things you were always afraid to say," the actor told EW last year on set in Salt Lake City while filming the series finale. "As men in particular, it's very rare that it's encouraged for us to speak up. Most men swallow their feelings and their words, and so it's saying, 'I'm done holding back, I'm done filtering myself or being afraid to be vulnerable.'"

Joshua Bassett
Joshua Bassett

Disney/Fred Hayes Joshua Bassett on 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series'

The song comes at a moment when both Ricky and EJ need to hear that sentiment most. "It's a really special bonding moment between the two characters," Bassett says.

Writing a song focusing on mental health was a true highlight of the season for Bassett, as he has spoken publicly about the issue for years. But he had no idea just how meaningful the moment would be when it was time to perform it on set.

"Some of the older male crew members actually came up to us when we were shooting it, saying how impacted they were by the scenes that we did and by that song," Bassett says. "Men have had a lot of things given to them absolutely, and in history, but I think a lot of times that's the last thing that people think about, men's mental health. It's cool that we're able to talk about that amongst all the other wonderful topics that we do get to talk about in the show, and it was cool to see how it impacted some of the guys in our cast and in our crew."

Writing the lyrics meant digging deep into what Bassett would have loved to have heard when he was younger. "What could I have heard three years ago? What things do I wish I could share in the world that could actually affect people?" he says. "That's just always a joy and an honor to be asked to do that, and I still can't believe it's my day job. It's pretty nuts."

He laughs before admitting, "You still feel like a fraud though. It never goes away."

As HSMTMTS gears up to debut its final season, Bassett is proud of what the cast and crew accomplished in these last eight episodes. "It's the most dance numbers we've ever done, so it's pretty intense," he says. "But literally, it's the most fun job in the world."

All eight episodes of the fourth and final season of HSMTMTS premiere Wednesday, Aug. 9, on Disney+.

These interviews were conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

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