Six years is a long time in music. Long enough for trends to shift, fanbases to move on, and artists to be quietly forgotten. Cody Simpson spent those six years winning Commonwealth Games gold medals instead. Now he’s back, and he’s brought two new tracks to prove it was worth the wait.
‘Baby Blue’ and ‘When It Comes To Loving You’ are out now via BMG — Simpson’s first new music since stepping away from the industry in 2020 to pursue elite competitive swimming in earnest. That decision, which made headlines at the time, paid off in a big way: Simpson earned a place on the Australian national team, won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay and silver in the medley relay at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and picked up multiple Australian short course titles along the way. After narrowly missing the cut for the Paris Olympics in 2024, he announced his retirement from the sport and his return to music. These two tracks are the result.
Both songs are co-written by Simpson and produced by Harrison Borts, and they wear their influences proudly. ‘Baby Blue’ is sun-drenched and breezy — warm 90s pop with a romantic edge, the kind of song that sounds best with the windows down. ‘When It Comes To Loving You’ takes a sharp left turn into glossy, synth-laced 80s territory, all emotional urgency and cinematic momentum. Together they make for a compelling double bill that suggests an artist who has spent his time away from music actually living, rather than just waiting to come back.
The videos are worth your time too. ‘Baby Blue’ follows Simpson on foot across Los Angeles, performing and dancing as he goes, before he disappears into a darkened building as the track ends. That’s where ‘When It Comes To Loving You’ picks up — throwing him into an underground Fight Club-style scenario that is bolder and rawer than anything in his back catalogue. As a piece of visual storytelling it’s genuinely ambitious, and it lands.
Simpson himself describes the sessions that produced the tracks as a turning point: “One day I came in extremely open-hearted and open-minded, sensing something vibrant and new wanted to come through. I intended to create something that felt like the coming of spring, like a pure expression of joy whilst sounding cool enough to throw on driving down the highway with your mates. I’ve been buzzing ever since.”
It shows. This doesn’t sound like an artist trying to recapture something old. It sounds like someone who stepped away, grew up, and came back with something genuine to say. Both tracks are out now via BMG.
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