Alternative pop rock band Broadside has today shared “Bleu”, the latest single from their forthcoming album Hotel Bleu. A poignant song about facing the loss of the one you love most, as your life together is just getting started, “Bleu” starts out quietly; frontman Oliver Baxxter’s gentle vocals the focal point against gentle acoustic guitars before the song swells in an emotional crescendo. Listen to “Bleu” now here: https://bfan.link/bleu-8 and watch the music video here: https://youtu.be/bElaJmQ0y04. Hotel Bleu is set to be released on November 10th via SharpTone Records. Pre-save / pre-order the album now at https://bfan.link/hotel-bleu.
“’Bleu’ is a song I wrote about my fiancé,” shares Baxxter. “A phone call changed our lives as the doctor on the other line said a prayer after he gave us the news that the tumor in her chest was breast cancer. We cried on the living room floor for two days after that until; eventually, we found the strength to call our family and friends. I couldn’t accept that someone who I’d lived and breathed with every day was about to endure one of the most demanding challenges of her life. ‘Bleu’ is a love letter to anyone who has ever experienced the sudden realization of such an unforgiving and cruel disease.”
Baxxter has also chosen to share a number of research organizations and support groups for those who have been affected by breast cancer, in hopes that they can find the help and comfort they need:
About Broadside
When you check into a hotel, you immediately step into another mindset. It may not be home, but you can still rest, nonetheless. Without knowing what happened before or what will go down after, you add to the history of each room. In the morning, you leave and essentially return to reality. Broadside explore this phenomenon on their fourth full-length album, Hotel Bleu [SHARPTONE]. The trio—Oliver Baxxter [vocals], Domenic Reid [guitar], and Patrick Diaz [bass]—architect a thema8c vision as expansive and engaging as their seismic and soaring alternative pop hooks. After posting up north of 100 million cumulative streams and building a devout audience, the band deliver their boldest, brightest, and biggest body of work yet.
“On tour, there’s nothing like a hotel,” notes Oliver. “Whether you have the most amazing or worst show of your life, the best part of the evening is getting a good night’s sleep once all of the endorphins run down. In terms of the concept for Hotel Bleu, every room is a different headspace. All of the songs are separate stories in this one place. They’re open for interpretation, but there’s a song for every type of person.”
Broadside have consistently captivated and enraptured audiences since their emergence in 2010. They’ve organically progressed over the course of albums such as Old Bones [2015], Paradise [2017], and Into The Raging Sea [2020]. Of the latter, UPSET proclaimed, “This collection of songs is Broadside laying it all out on the table,” while Hysteria predicted, “Their big break is only around the corner; with their next album sure to cement them as a pop rock headliner to look out for.” It also yielded fan favorites such as “Heavenly,” which generated 13.9 million Spotify streams and counting.
In order to bring Hotel Bleu to life, they collaborated with producers Andrew Wade [A Day To Remember, Neck Deep, Motionless In White] in Florida and Andrew Baylis [Jelly Roll, Sleeping With Sirens] in Nashville.
They initially paved the way for the album with “One Last Time” and “Cruel” [feat. Brian Butcher], piling up millions of streams. Opening up this world further, the single “Bang” [feat. Josh Roberts] glides along on an upbeat bounce powered up by a sunny guitar riff and disarmingly confessional chorus, “Bang bang, the reaper’s at my door, and I don’t want to run anymore.”
“The song has a great energy, and it’s a good time,” he says. “So many people have struggled over the last couple of years. I found myself not wanting to have conversations with anybody, ask for help, or even talk to my mom. So, the feeling is, ‘If depression or the reaper comes back, I’m going to let him kill me’. It’s a pop song in this moody and dark headspace where you’re embracing depression. There’s depth, but it’s catchy, which is what I’m trying to accomplish with the band.”
The album builds towards the tender exhale of the title track. Anchored by airy acoustic guitar, it culminates on a moment of stark honesty as he sighs, “Forever without you is a different shade of blue.”
In the end, you might not want to leave Hotel Bleu after you check in.
“I’d like for Broadside to be your favorite band after this record,” he leaves off. “We’re trying to grow into the band we always wanted to be. I feel like we did.”