Better Believe is a single, released on October 19, 2018, and it is one track long. That shapes how to approach it. There is no sequence to follow and no arc across a record, only one piece of music to sit with. What follows is a guide to listening closely to a single offering from an artist whose work spans sound, stillness and teaching.
Joel Cross, known online as A Soul Called Joel, is a certified meditation teacher, mindfulness coach and accomplished musician. He is Grammy-nominated for his collaborations with India Arie as a songwriter and guitarist, contributing to "Just Let It Go," "We Are," "Hour Of Love," and "Worthy." Those are works made inside another artist's vision.
Better Believe dates from 2018, and it belongs to his own body of work, where, as his bio puts it, he weaves together his love for nature, poetry and guitar into mindful pieces that are both inspirational and grounding. I won't claim more about where it falls in his development than the facts allow. What can be said is that it comes from the same person who now hosts the Emotional Evolution podcast, created the R.I.S.E. Journal and leads the Beautiful Souls community. Listening to it is one way to hear the musical side of that wider practice.
Joel's music is generally acoustic, contemplative and understated, built around guitar and voice rather than production heft. Expect a fingerpicked or gently strummed guitar that leaves open space instead of pushing a rhythm forward. His voice is warm and clear, more interested in listening than in showing off technique. The pacing is measured, so each word and note has room to settle.
The mood is introspective and steady. This is not music that asks for excitement or movement. If you come from high-gloss pop or dense electronic production, the restraint may feel sparse at first. That sparseness is the point, a kind of discipline in which less asks more of your attention.
I can't itemize the specific instruments or arrangement choices on this particular single beyond that general character, so treat the description as a guide to his sound rather than a track-by-track inventory.
There is one: "Better Believe." With a single, the question of what makes it land is simpler and more demanding. The title is an imperative, almost a nudge, and it fits the broader themes of his teaching: self-awareness, authenticity, and returning to yourself. Hear it as an invitation rather than a statement. The strength of a one-track release is that nothing competes with it. You can hear how the guitar sets the space, how the voice enters it, and how the song holds its pace without hurrying toward a payoff.
This is not devotional music in the formal sense. There is no stated lineage, teacher or guru behind Joel's work, and it would be wrong to assign one. His approach is best understood as contemporary, mindfulness-informed, and secular in spirit, pairing meditation techniques with practical, modern application. It is not bhakti or kirtan, and it isn't ambient in the sense of music designed to disappear into the background.
It sits closer to the acoustic singer-songwriter tradition, shaped by a meditator's sensibility. Joel has described his invitation as helping people "come home to your heart, one breath at a time," and the music shares that tone: intimate, accessible, free of doctrine. It belongs with other contemplative songwriting, where the song is a place to arrive rather than a performance to admire.
This single suits the listener who is already inclined to look inward, or ready to start. It will mean the most to someone moving through a season of stress, transition or emotional processing, someone who wants company in that state rather than distraction from it. People drawn to his teaching, whether through the podcast, the journal or the community, will find the music a natural companion.
It's less suited to those who want high-energy, commercially polished music, or who prefer external structure to open-ended reflection. Joel's work generally asks for participation, not passive consumption, and that holds here too.
Give it the full attention a single track allows. Listen alone, in the evening or at a quiet point in your day, with headphones if you want the guitar's texture and the quality of the voice to come through. Put your phone away. Play it once without doing anything else, then again if you like, this time noticing where your mind goes and where it settles.
If you keep a journal, have it nearby. Because he created the R.I.S.E. Journal as a meditative journaling practice, pairing the song with a few minutes of writing is a natural fit, though no ritual is required. The track is short, and the invitation is simply to arrive as you are.
