Divine Feelings

Album: released as a single (2025)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Vance Joy first met his wife, Selen Us, while exploring Barcelona's Gothic Quarter in 2019. "Divine Feelings" is inspired by that experience: the euphoric rush when an encounter with someone significant shifts from casual to life-altering.
  • The opening verse takes us straight into Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. Joy sings about "swimming through a sea of people," which is what the Gothic Quarter feels like on a summer evening: bodies, voices, and the occasional accordion all coming at you at once. Then comes the instant spark combined with wine-fueled conversation and physical closeness. "Hard to describe but it feels like floating," he sings.
  • Vance Joy wrote "Divine Feelings" with longtime collaborator Dave Bassett. To capture that feeling of falling hard and fast for Selen, they traveled back to Barcelona, channeling the euphoria and grandeur of recognizing a life-changing connection.
  • Released September 3, 2025, "Divine Feelings" was Joy's first solo material since his 2022 album In Our Own Sweet Time. It arrived paired with another track, "Fascination In The Dark."
  • Produced by Dave Bassett, the track is built to feel epic and grand, with a cinematic, soaring arrangement. An acoustic version was released in December 2025 with the song stripped back to guitar and vocal to emphasize the emotional intensity beneath the production.
  • The video, directed by W.A.M. Bleakley, is a modern Bonnie-and-Clyde saga in the Australian outback, starring Erana James and Tom Wilson. There are fugitives, dusty highways and law enforcement in hot pursuit.

    Bleakley filmed it in Mount Isa and Cloncurry, Queensland. "Not only do they have a desert-Americana vibe, they also offered us consistent weather that had a summer feel to it," he said of the location. "Generally, not much filming happens in either of these towns, so we were a bit of a novelty and locals really embraced us. Everything we asked for (locations, vehicles etc) we got a 'yes' - whereas in the city you often get a lot of 'no's.'"
  • The video serves as a prelude to the "Fascination in the Dark" clip, which picks up the narrative from the couple's perspective as they're on the run, dancing around campfires and causing chaos in remote locations.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.

Songs About Movies

Songs About MoviesSong Writing

Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.

Brenda Russell

Brenda RussellSongwriter Interviews

Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.