"Leap" Into the Production Behind the Scenes of James Bay's Latest Record

Weaving mental health struggles with threads of light and dreams, James Bay has formed a musical canvas with his latest album, Leap, and takes on a new creative outlet by diving into vulnerability when it comes to songwriting. Take a ‘leap’ with us into the production, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes of the brilliantly hopeful new album from James Bay.

In a press conference with °1824, the multi-platinum artist goes into detail on the production behind the record-- referencing the growth and learning process which took root as he began to move past the fear that surrounds songwriting and creating new music for his third studio album. 

“I’ve gone to a new depth of reality with regards to what I say in my songs-- 99% of my songs are written from a very personal experience. I was always writing in a more abstract way; definitely on my first album, sometimes on my second album,” the musician explains. “I was always afraid to just say it-- whatever the thing may have been that I was writing about-- and I’ve tried to do that a lot more this time because I wanted to face the fear that I felt I had. It resonates with people, and music is about connecting.”

Each track on this album feels like looking into a new corner of the inside of Bay's mind. There is a tone that borders on devastation present in tracks such as “Give Me The Reason” and “Better” which elaborate on his feelings of heartache and imposter syndrome back in 2019. However, these tracks contrast with the wildly optimistic and heartening songs of “Right Now” and “One Life.” Bay has always been a lyrical genius, but this album as a whole, truly demonstrates his elusivity in defining his artistry as a single concept or emotional theme.  

The 16-track record contains enlightening, nostalgic anthems including my two favorites, “Brilliant Still” and “Endless Summer Nights.” Both songs establish a feeling of endless hope and reassurance to beautiful snapshots in time-- the perfect songs to scream out the window on a highway or in the face of any dark moment. Reminiscing on long weekends camping with friends during music festivals, as well as an ‘almost skinny-dip’ with Ed Sheeran in Iceland, Bay focuses the musical energy of Leap on blurring the line between dark and light. 

“To some degree I’ve become, not known for sad songs, but almost. On this occasion, I very intentionally was trying to push the boundary and change that, or just sort of evolve it. Not to be so bold, but I was trying to go for anthems on hope,” Bay says. “Not just because of the recent times, I wrote so many of these songs before any pandemic even arrived, but that became a detail in the journey of creating this music; it became a factor. I knew I wanted to make music that gave people something to use to stay hopeful.”

Working with a variety of well-known producers and songwriters, Leap found its form through a motley team of collaborators: Foy Vance [Ed Sheeran], Dave Cobb [Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton], Ian Fitchuk  [Kacey Musgraves, Brett Eldredge], Joel Little [Lorde, Taylor Swift] & Finneas [Billie Eilish, The Knocks]. 

“Everybody is chasing writing and creating on their own-- at some point, at some point-- everybody’s trying to be the only name in the credits. It’s exciting when it comes off, but collaboration is the spice of life,” Bay describes the importance of working cohesively with other writers/producers. “Collaboration as far as just spicing up the process, shaking it up when necessary, or just digging in on one thing together as a team, whether it's two of you or more, there’s nothing like it.”

Bay continues, “I got more into this in the last couple of years, and actually on Leap, I decided to go to co-writing sessions with no ideas and just speak from the heart about what’s going on and see what we make musically in the moment. I really enjoyed that!”

Leap represents vulnerability, realness, hope, and finding peace in the chaos of emotions. This record is the very essence of optimism in a rare and exposed form, and a sonically beautiful work through and through. James Bay is genuine with each lyric, melody, and breakthrough-- continuing to create music from the soul and for the soul. 

Leap is available now on all streaming platforms!