There is a short breath between pain and peace, a second of feeling stuck, of almost floating in emotion. Joshua Jamison’s latest single, “Broken People,” is freezing in that short breath. The song emanates an unusual sense of honesty, the kind that feels like a living, breathing thing. With a vast, film-like song and an indisputably pure human message, “Broken People” is an anthem for everyone who has ever tried to turn ruin into something beautiful.
Jamison’s interpretation is striking but sweet, delicate but adapted. Each lyric means something, each chord change is determined, and the production breaks up like a film sheet, high, angsty, colorful, delicate. The instrument moves fluently between confinement and fulfillment, effortlessly shaping sound. It creates an atmosphere that sincerely invites the audience and only appears in cathedrals, such as a whispering admission. However, the fact that “Broken People” appeals the most is the case. The song won’t turn a blind eye to the unpleasant aspects of being human, the crashes, the injuries, the moments when everything comes into question. Instead, it welcomes them, turning smashups into something hardly exquisitely beautiful. There’s a curing scene humming through the song’s nucleus, an emotional intimacy that clings around even the final trumpet.
“Broken People” isn’t just another single for Joshua Jamison. It’s an affirmation of reason, of transformation. Jamison doesn’t just sing to the crushed, with this piece, he sings to them. And in that shared flaw and welfare, “Broken People” becomes not just heard but considered.