Nine Songs: James Bay

JAMES BAY: I remember I was with my family on holiday in Turkey in 2004 when it came out. It was blistering hot, and I had just fallen in love with this music with my brother. It came out 20 years ago and that makes me think, "Shit, that was 20 years ago! I was 13!”

BEST FIT: Why do you think it’s had such staying power, obviously, in your life, but over 20 years?

The whole album is perfect. I think that's a dangerous word to throw around, and I don’t throw it around often, but I’ll stick with that. For 20 years, it’s been probably in my top five. I’m always sad when someone hasn’t heard of it... but also it’s a blessing. You can be like, “Please listen immediately.” I know he’s not Bob Dylan famous, but there’s something special there.

Art can be tricky because it needs to be believable and when he breathes into the microphone, I’m like, “Oh, I feel that too” and all he’s done is breathe. I’m gripped. It’s when he sings, “And I'll stand here and burn in my skin.” We’ve all done that and half of us don’t even want to imagine it in that way because it’s too much.

Something about that tale is so similar to making music because there's an addictive quality to it. It feels really good, even when you're dealing with something heavy—an issue, a problem, heartbreak, sadness, a big feeling. It's something that feels wonderful, and that’s what’s so life-changing about the whole album.

That song always hits me, and there are so many on there I could have chosen. Respectfully, "Trouble" is down the other end of that list. I love that song partly because it got a bit too much popular attention. For some reason, every time someone asks me about the artist who sings "Trouble," I'm like, "Yes, but listen, I promise you “Burn” is just... It's excruciating as well." There’s something in me that relates to it, something deep that’s probably for another occasion. It's that feeling of not being able to have that thing you want.

Is there a lyric that really resonated with you?

He talks about another man in that song — "So kiss him again, just to prove to me that you can, and I'll stand there and burn in my skin." The way he sings all of that... I’ve sat and sung that song to myself a million times. So many lines in that song taught me the thing that all songwriters are trying to learn again and again, which is just to say it. Go on, just say the thing. It will be better if you just do.

There’s this idea that songwriting is a therapy and it will help heal you. But actually, you’re only one person writing it, or just a few people in the writing room creating a piece of art. It quickly becomes about the tens, hundreds, thousands, or millions of people that are receiving it and what the experience is like for them.

Maybe I’m speaking from an overly commercially minded perspective, but that’s where I am. I’ve had conversations with different artists who say, "Fuck all that." And I’m like, “Actually, no, not fuck all that.”

Touching on how truthful Ray LaMontagne is with his work, when you’re writing songs, is it still difficult for you to go to that vulnerable place or has it gotten easier after four albums?

I've done it more on this one than ever before, which I'm really proud of. The caveat is that it doesn't make it any easier to talk about any of it. I'm glad that I know that I did, and I hope people take these songs and feel the things they are feeling, and that the songs are helpful because that's a nice thing … Or an important thing, I should say.

Some medicine is nice, some is disgusting, it's still relevant [laughs]. I’m not trying to say I hope that music isn’t disgusting, but it — going through heartbreak or grief — is, unfortunately, disgusting. It’s a part of life, it will happen. Even that idea feeds back into why the album's name is Changes All The Time and why it's important to say the thing. It's not easy, but it's important.

Does it make it any easier to be vulnerable when people come up to you and say, “Thank you for this song, it helped me”?

Yes, there's something worthwhile about someone else getting something from it. There's a very rare occasion where I might not even let them know, but they might get the same thing from the song that I got from writing it. I haven't had loads of experience with that. What's funny is that sometimes, from a self-deprecating perspective, it's hard to hear someone say thank you. "I really needed this to help me," because sometimes it was just so hard to write.

But ultimately, I get to exist in this capacity, talking to you or doing anything that I do, because they did feel something enough. So there's a selfishness to what I just said that is important to compartmentalise. I confess, I do feel it. I don't necessarily even like to confess that, but I've just done it, so...

I'm still working that out, because it's a big moment when anybody pulls me to one side and says, “Listen, I need you to know…” If I've ever shared that with an artist I love, then it's meant something to me that I was able to. I feel very vulnerable in my answer to this question. I feel a bit revealed — good thing or bad, maybe.

I think I'm always trying to, at a base level, share with someone that I'm fine. You've tapped on a unique nerve, okay? [Laughs]