James Bay is hardly recognizable when he arrives for our interview. His hair isn’t shoulder-length anymore, it’s in a loose coif. His signature Panama hat is missing. He’s wearing a single, thin hoop earring, which is either new or just noticeable now that his locks are short. He looks edgy, dressed in all black—Burberry shearling jacket, jeans, and boots—as if he’s mourning his old persona while presenting a new one at the same time.
This is a new era for the 27-year-old Brit, aesthetically and sonically, starting with his new single, “Wild Love.” It’s his first original release since his 2015 debut, Chaos and the Calm, which earned him three Grammy nominations (including Best New Artist), a BRIT Award, and an opening slot on Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour.
But unlike his soft, folk-rock first album (which included the wistful “When We Were on Fire,” heartbreaking “Let It Go,” and roaring “Hold Back the River”), “Wild Love” boasts an entirely new sound. For starters, it opens with ethereal synths, a surprising departure from Chaos’ guitar-led tracks.
Bay has more music coming down the pipe, too, and it all sounds different. There’s a Strokes-esque song called “Pink Lemonade.” There’s “In My Head,” a melody he describes as Sesame Street-influenced. There are horns reminiscent of Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment. And, to the delight of his early fans, there’s a song Bay wrote for Chaos but decided to save for later.
The new work is “diverse and eclectic,” Bay describes, talking with his hands and propping his feet on a nearby ledge. “My lane needs to be widened. I don't wanna confine myself to a narrow lane.” But as much as he claims to have evolved, the old James Bay lives on in his heartfelt lyricism and rocker vocals. He also promises to continue performing with a guitar in hand. (He starts another American tour on March 25.)
So does this really mean James Bay's iconic hat is gone forever? “Yeah,” he answers without hesitation. But then he quickly reconsiders. “I mean, who's to say anything's gone or not for good?”
Below, Bay talks to BAZAAR.com about his new single, new sound, and new look.
After touring his first album for nearly five years, Bay was ready for a change.
“By the end of 2016, I finished—and every time I say this next bit, I'm thinking of my fans, and how important they are to me—but I was truly ready to do everything but something that sounded like Chaos and the Calm.”
He knew his old style wasn’t going to last forever.
“You know, ‘guy with a guitar, hat and long hair’ as a visual and a trademark, it was entirely intentional. I did set out to achieve what I achieved with it. There was just no guaranteeing that I would, so it's cool that I did, but it was always gonna have a sell-by date, you know?”
“The whole ethos, for me, making this new music, was that if I'm not moving forward, I'm standing still. [He pauses.] I'll move forward. All my fans have been on a journey with me over time, as well. I don't expect any of them to be the same person they were when they first discovered my music."
But ditching his recognizable image was still a risk.
“I started growing my hair at 11 or 12, so once I was 14 or 15, it was how it looked last year. So, I was all about getting my hair cut. Now I can walk the streets and people aren't jumping on me, especially when I'm not touring the music, so it's not a huge problem. But when your identity becomes so public, you want to change. You want to change when it's the right time. Because it'd become something of a trademark for me, there's always something scary about taking the leap, and going, ‘Okay, you had a thing that you were known for, along with the music. Now, you're gonna throw that away.’ I would always have chosen to do this.”
He hasn’t worn a hat since the big chop a few months ago.
“Since I got a haircut, I've not actually put a hat on my head. I haven't covered this hair. Strange, but no desire. I wore it for long enough. I don't really know whether it'll come back, or anything. I just haven't got any interest in it right now.”
His new music has influences from Frank Ocean to Blondie.
“My first record was very straightforward. It was about the songs. There'd be a guitar—or an acoustic guitar and electric guitar—a drum kit, a bass, and some keys. This time, there's all sorts of layers.
“On one track there's even a bit of influence from Sesame Street. There's a load of kids. I got this group of little kids, and they're singing, but at one point, I said, ‘Don't worry about the melody. Just shout the lyrics.' That's the best way I can describe it.
“There's Frank Ocean stuff. There's LCD Soundsystem stuff. There's Strokes stuff. There’s Blondie stuff, David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson. I love all of that music. A lot of it I've loved for many years, but it didn't necessarily apply to what I was doing on Chaos and the Calm.
“On Chaos and the Calm, my Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne influences applied more to that music. But now, I'm evolving.”
He collaborated with Jon Green, a songwriter, producer, and close friend. But Bay primarily wrote the songs on a guitar, like he usually does.
“Because I was making such a change and taking such a different turn from where I've been sonically, if I'm gonna do that, I can only really feel like I'll get away with it if the songs are great. If the songs aren't great? It's just like new noise, and that's fine, but I don't know if that will last as long as a great song would last.
“So, the goal is to write great songs, and then color them in however I wanted to, and it was all those influences that I named—and just general, unique, new tastes of mine, instrumentally—that are why ‘Wild Love’ sounds the way it does, and a lot of the other tracks will sound the way they do. And they don’t all sound like ‘Wild Love.’”
Bay doesn’t want to be put in a box.
“Look: everybody gets pigeonholed, and I'd rather be pigeonholed and known for something as opposed to nothing. But if people are saying, ‘James, you know, intimate sort of troubadour songwriter guy,’ that exists in here [he forms a circle with his hands in front of his face]. That's okay, and I've always played to that, because I know it's one of my strengths, but I've got strengths up here [he reaches his right arm up], I got strengths down here [he reaches his other arm down], and I'm gonna play to them as well, because I find that more exciting and more interesting.”
Fans of his soft rock won’t be disappointed with his new music.
“There are a couple of moments—and this is important, again, going back to the fans—that bridge the gap between the first record and the new stuff. I confess, it was more in hindsight that I recognized that I had done it. And if people don't think that even those moments bridge the gap? I don't really mind. I just hope they like the songs. A lot of it is about being exciting, and new, and different for myself and the fans, but it's a balance of the two.”
Bay didn't compose while touring, but when he was finally home, he only rested for “10 days” before creating new music again.
“By the end of December 2016, when I stopped touring, I got home and took a few days. These few days, in a lot of other people's realities, could last a year, easily. And I understand that. People on my team were saying, ‘Take a minute. Take six months. Take a year. Chill. Be at home. Live.’ All important things for the soul and for creativity. But I didn't have any interest in it. I got about 10 days out of that."
He recorded the new work in his native U.K. instead of the U.S.
“At the top of January 2017, I got back together with Jon and we carried on writing, and I made this record in London. So I was able to focus and throw myself into it and work through the night if I needed to, because I was kind of at home. The first record was this massive undertaking, getting all the way out to Nashville, doing all that. There was a lot of energy that went into it, and it was far from home. It was a whole different beast this time, so I didn't feel overworked."
Bay had the record done by the end of April 2017, but didn’t release anything right away. One of his A&R reps secretly sent his music to producer and songwriter Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence + the Machine, Bloc Party) who instantly became a fan. He gave James a surprise call and offered to help finalize the music in his London studio. Bay was shocked.
“He said, ‘I think this music might be ready. If you put it out tomorrow, I'd back it. I'd support that. Like I said, I thought it was brilliant.’ He said, ‘But it's May 2017. I know that you're not racing to put it out tomorrow.’ So, he said, ‘I've got a studio. Hear me out. If you and Jon are cool, and wanna come by for a couple weeks, there's just some stuff that I'd love to try. I know I'm being a bit bold, here, but I'm a fan of this stuff, and if you're up for it, I'd love to try some extra sounds on it.’ And he said, ‘If you don't like it, throw it away. Put it in the trash. I'd still support the music.’
“I'm never gonna turn that opportunity down. We took the music to Paul, and for a few weeks, it was magic. He's obviously super talented. He really brought the music over the finish line.”
The synths on "Wild Love" were Bay and Green's work, but Epworth introduced them to even more sounds.
“Me and Jon dug into that world, 'cause Jon's good on that kind of stuff anyway, so initially those sounds were just me and Jon. Most of what you hear on ‘Wild Love’ is from what we wrote it. It's sort of from the demo.
“Paul's got this big studio with loads of different synths, so we were able to pepper it with these other nuances and sounds that we didn't have access to. And he's got some producer tricks and moves on the mixing desk that we didn't really know about, that really brought it to that finished place.”
It may be surprising to hear Bay list hip-hop and rap artists his inspirations, but he’s drawn in by their “lyrical directness and honesty,” just as he is with acts from different genres. He hopes to do the same with his songs.
“You can hear real honesty when it's real honesty, in any genre. So, I have favorites in rock, and I have favorites in rap and hip-hop for really unique reasons.
“I listen to Adele’s 'Someone Like You,' and Chance the Rapper’s 'Same Drugs,' because I get the same dose of honesty from both those, and I'm just as happy each time. I'm just as nourished.
"The thing about Chance and Frank Ocean, Kanye, and Noname that I love is when they throw a little bit of melody to [the rap] and they're sort of singing as well. It’s by no means technically perfect, and that's the greatest thing about it. I'm not interested in technically perfect anything, just real emotion, and feeling, and soul. There's soul all over the artists we've just mentioned, and that's one of my favorite things. I hear it in Drake's music, too.”
He's a fan of their crossover music, too.
“I love a great pop song. 'All Night' by Chance the Rapper. It's such an incredible song. 'Same Drugs,' in a slightly different way. 'Smoke Break.' And all the Drake hits. The list is quite endless. ‘Ultralight Beam’ on the recent Kanye record. Ugh. It's phenomenal.
"If it moves me, if it gives me chills, if it makes me feel something, then it goes on a playlist, or I wanna talk about it, or I will absolutely be inspired by it.”
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
