Chaos and the Calm James Bay

Cassidy Locke

He seems to be taking the alternative world by storm. The new artist James Bay is one to watch. With his hit single “Hold Back the River” reaching number 2 on the UK charts and now his second single “Let it go” had peaked at 10 on the UK charts and you could hear it all over the radio in the UK and the US. He started out from Hertfordshire, England in 2013 in the same year he released his first EP entitled, The Dark of the Morning. He then released his second EP in 2014 titled, Let It Go and it debuted on the iTunes top 10 album chart which started his sky rocketing success. He then performed at the Burberry runway and toured with Hozier in 2014. Since this release he has received a Brit award and now is nominated for not one or two but three Grammys including best new artist, best rock album and best rock song for his song “Hold Back the River”. He deserves all of this success and so does his album, it is a must listen.

He has released his first studio album titled Chaos and the Calm. It was released on March 23, 2015 and went to number one on the UK charts and number fifteen on the US charts. The first track is titled “Craving” and it is a very upbeat song charged with energy. His voice could be described as raspy and soothing and very very unique compared to everyone out their right now. Throughout his whole album he sings with so much passion and emotion like in his songs If You Ever Want to Be in Love and Incomplete. Both songs showcase his voice and the emotion he felt writing and singing these songs. In every song he sings whether it is slow, upbeat, happy or sad the emotions come through perfectly. You almost feel like you are sucked into the moment he experienced that he used as inspiration for that song. Each song is a different story and a different emotion but after every song you only want to get to the next song. One of the more fun and upbeat songs on this album is Collide, it is about being with someone and even though as much as you fight you don’t want to break up in fear of being apart so you much rather fight and “collide”.

This album definitely deserves to be nominated for the Grammys and so does he. The amount of work and passion he puts into every song and lyric is almost mind boggling. He will definitely continue to grow as an artist and continue to make great music. This is only the beginning.