Whistling Through Love and Faith: The Bapti$$ Shares “Wear & Tear”

“Wear & Tear” continues The Bapti$$’ thread of intentional, heartfelt storytelling, even as the tone shifts to something more playful. “The whistling gives it this old American hobo vibe,” says LaPlante. “Still, it fits with everything else I’ve released so far. It’s in the same spirit.”

As with the other songs from The Bapti$$, the creative process was raw and intuitive. “I just jumped in the booth and pieced it together on the spot. Nearly the whole project has come together effortlessly.”
“Wear & Tear” is spiritual pop-country with a smile—a warm beam of light in The Bapti$$’ growing body of work. Despite its cheerful exterior, the track remains deeply aligned with his core mission: following divine direction in both music and life.

Before creating The Bapti$$, LaPlante gained widespread acclaim and recognition in hip-hop as Joey Stylez, with features in Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, Reservation Dogs, and the film Wind River. LaPlante wants to use The Bapti$$’s work to help youth stay on the right track and away from those sorts of traumatic outcomes, while also staying deeply connected to the people stuck on the margins who need strength the most. The Bapti$$ brings calming waters in a chaotic world.

Listen in here: https://open.spotify.com/track/0i81wDFRHaVzUVz1wVSoQN?si=9bf91115796a4917&nd=1&dlsi=c6a381bb0f7d4edb
“Just let God take the wheel, man,” LaPlante says. “I’ve learned there’s no greater superpower than having God in your life.”
With this being release number four, The Bapti$$ is preparing for the unveiling of his long-awaited debut LP, Pop Cult(ure), dropping September 26th. “I’m super excited to drop it and I’m already itching to cook up the next batch of music,” he adds.

The Bapti$$ is the new project from multi-instrumentalist and artist Joseph LaPlante. It’s a musical cleansing and rebirth, a blank slate for a veteran musician and songwriter—a mid-career baptism of sorts, hence the name. As The Bapti$$, LaPlante, who is from Saskatchewan but is now based in Haida Gwaii, has created a world of warm, lush, 808-driven acoustic indie-pop and cozy, stripped-back singer-songwriter R&B. There are romantic, late-night love ballads, booming hip-hop vocals and verses, rootsy folk sing-alongs, gritty country-noir slow-burns, and spacy, electronic astro-pop.