James Bay says the extra time spent on new album has improved the quality

James Bay’s upcoming album has a completely new tracklisting

The certified platinum hitmaker has revealed that his upcoming 3rd studio album is now very different to the one that he originally had planned to release because he’s dropped several songs after deciding they were not up to scratch.

The 30 year-old English singer-songwriter and guitarist – who started making his album in February 2020 in the US (Nashville), had spent the majority of his time writing new material and is very pleased with the extra time he had whilst isolating to keep working on his next record and to further improve it.

Bay said of the LP:

“As the world opens I’ve got music. I’ve got so much music ready, well, some of it is not quite ready yet. This album is not a completely different 12 songs but there has been an update. I am grateful for the time.”

James Bay

MUSIC NEWS He added that it’s not uncommon for him to dislike songs that he actually does release because as an artist he’s always striving for perfection.

Discussing his approach to his song selection, Bay added: “Really, you have to put them out and hope people love them before you decide you don’t love them anymore.”

The rocker – who is playing some intimate solo shows throughout July – said: “I’ve got a couple of solo shows announced and hopefully as I get into announcing more music I can announce more touring. I realistically expect most of that touring to be in 2022. I’m just looking at the landscape of things and I think it will be more like then.”

The music star can’t wait to finally release his album and then head out on tour again but he is realistic about when that might happen, and accepts any large concerts are unlikely to take place in 2021.

In 2014, Bay released his single “Hold Back the River,” which was certified platinum, before releasing his debut studio album Chaos and the Calm in 2015. The album went to No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 15 in the U.S. In February 2015, Bay received the Brit Awards “Critics’ Choice” award.