James Bay‘s fourth album, Changes All the Time, is out on Oct. 4, and it features Noah Kahan and The Lumineers on the song “Up All Night.” Five years ago Noah opened for James, but this summer James found himself opening for Noah — and learning he has fans who discovered him through the “Stick Season” singer.
“It’s like, ‘Wait, what? This guy was opening for me a second ago,’ but how fun,” James tells ABC Audio. “What a cool turn of events to still be connected to and be involved in, and [to] have played a part in and sort of continue to, I guess. ‘Cause if we’re sharing fans, then, wow, what a cool thing that is as well.”
Faced with situations like that, it’s no wonder James titled the album Changes All The Time.
“I wanted to say something true and connecting,” he says. “Everything changes all the time. You can stay present for that, but you can’t necessarily get in the way of it.”
On this album, James also got to co-write with The Killers‘ Brandon Flowers, a hero of his. James recalls Brandon said of the song they did together, “Listen to that. Isn’t that good? … it sounds like The Beatles or something.”
“I’m like, ‘Brandon Flowers, absolute hero, listening to a thing that I’ve come up with, that he’s writing with me, saying it reminds him of The Beatles? That was a pinch-myself moment.”
James is currently planning a U.S. tour for 2025, though he’d also like to do a solo acoustic thing at some point.
“I’ll bring the band to America. No question. We’ll make a lot of noise,” he says. “But I would hope … that I can get out there and just sort of share this music in that really intimate way, as well.”
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