Top 25 James Bay Quotes

It’s silly to call me the new Ed Sheeran. He can fill stadiums as a solo artist, but I’m not like that.

I write about personal experiences. I write about things that have happened to me and the people around me, so you just sort of keep this antenna up and on the lookout for things to say.

Both Springsteen and Michael Jackson, who had these huge productions, could always scale them back down to just a song and a melody. All of that influences me. I also try to be a fictional writer, and sometimes I get close, but the things that resonate the most with me – and with everyone else – is what’s real.

I do some solo, acoustic stuff, but I also like plugging in my electric guitar and playing loud with a band.

I loved pop music as a little kid. Things like the Black Eyed Peas. If it had a catchy chorus, I was into it.

There was a guitar that my uncle owned and never learnt to play. He sold it to my dad, and when I heard ‘Layla’, that was the tune that really grabbed me. I said to my dad, ‘Wait, there’s a guitar, right?’

I like drawing people in the airport or on the bus or in venues. I like catching people in the moment. It’s a similar inspiration for me in terms of songwriting.

It’s bad to be labeled just another singer-songwriter.

There should be an element of mystique between the fans and the artist. That bit between the stage and the audience. I think that’s necessary.

When I was 16, I spent a year pushing trollies around a car park, and that wasn’t fun. I didn’t love working in a supermarket; it wasn’t for me. It is for some people, and that’s totally cool.

Being exhausted is all part of the fun. I’m cool with it. I’m not going to wish that it would slow down.

I love the intimate, single spotlight, troubadour-y quiet, delicate moments. But I also love Springsteen and screaming and shouting.

The Internet is the Wild West of the world, where anybody can throw anything down. Everything can be as relevant as the next thing; it doesn’t matter who posts it. In that environment, the Critics’ Choice is still very important.

Growing up in Hitchin was comfortable and easy enough. My parents had some great records – and some not-so-great ones – and that’s where I got introduced to Motown and the Stones and Springsteen.

I’m very close in age to my older brother, and we had a field at the end of the road where we could run around, climb trees, play football.

How I set myself apart is by creating the sort of real and honest music, which is who I’m also trying to be.

I spent two years playing open mic nights in Brighton, and I heard more and more people saying, ‘You should give it a go in London.’

As a singer-songwriter, a solo artist with a guitar, I can only write so many weepie little bedroom songs.

I used to dress up like Michael Jackson. I didn’t have the glove, but I had a red jacket like in ‘Thriller.’

As a little kid, I was obsessed with Michael Jackson.

When I’m writing, I need to amplify my thoughts and feelings on just a conversation that I might have had with somebody – somebody close to me. It’s often the case that the people closest to me are the people on my mind the most.

My songwriting process is painful. Songwriting is brilliant. It’s a load of fun – when it works. It’s really difficult as well.

I’m still like an excited kid playing guitar in front of the bedroom mirror.

My songwriting process, and maybe loads of other people’s, is just this sort of smashing together of emotions and stuff to make some music. It’s kind of simple and really complex at the same time and, as you can see, incredibly hard to explain.

To drive though the streets of Manhattan to sign a record deal was like a movie. It was crazy – pretty hard to put into words.