Three-time Grammy Award winner James Bay is the hit-maker who doesn’t chase hits

James Bay has says he isn’t interested in chasing hits while revealing his passion for the piece of jewellery that has risen to prominence on the back of Taylor Swift.

James Bay says he was into ‘friendship bracelets’ before Taylor Swift made them a global phenomenon.

The three-time Grammy Award winner wears a black friendship band on his left wrist with daughter Ada Violet Bay’s name.

“I’ve had this since before that became a thing by the way, for the record,” Bay told The Daily Telegraph. “I’ve had it since she was born.”

Bay’s daughter was born in October 2021.

English singer James bay pictured in Woolloomooloo. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Swift’s Midnights album sparked the friendship bracelet trend when it was released in October 2022, and when her Eras tour - covering her entire musical career - was announced weeks later. In her song, You’re on Your Own, Kid, Swift sings about making friendship bracelets as a way of connecting with others.

A Swiftie’s friendship bracelets. Picture: Roslan Rahman/AFP

Bay actually supported Swift on European dates earlier in his career, back in 2015.

“I am a fan of Taylor Swift, no question,” he said. “She was very generous (on tour). I’ve always been a big fan. I mean, when that Folklore album came out, I like lots of different Taylor Swift music but I still go back to that album and do the whole thing. And Ada, my daughter, is a huge fan of track one Taylor, just so you know, it is called The 1.”

The three-time Grammy Award winner isn’t into chasing hits.

Known for global chart toppers Let It Go and Hold Back The River, the 33-year-old achieved huge success off the back of his first album Chaos and the Calm.

“You can’t reverse engineer a hit,” Bay told The Daily Telegraph.

“I would love a hit, it is a wonderful thing and it certainly helps sustain a career, I know that too and I kind of came out of the gate album one having experience of hits but I learn constantly, you can’t chase it.”

US singer Taylor Swift performs on stage during a concert as part of her Eras World Tour in Sydney on February 23, 2024. Picture: AFP

The singer added: “Chasing a hit is incredibly unhealthy. That feeds into social media and the state of mental health in relation to social media.”

Bay is in Australia headlining the SummerSalt Festival and last night (Tuesday) played a solo sideshow at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre.

He last visited Sydney in 2018 when he promoted his second album, Electric Light. A lot has changed since then, professionally and personally. He and partner Lucy Smith got married and had a baby girl, Ada Violet.

“I am starkly aware that I disappear for a living,” he said of travelling for work. “Disappear from a child’s life, who I brought into the world and I want to be here and who wants me around. That is big stuff. It is very emotional, the whole experience has turned me upside down and still continues to do that. It is a really tough thing to navigate.”

James Bay said his new song Hope shows his “earnestness and vulnerability”. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A fourth album is also on the way and has been playing a new song called Hope for the first time ever on his Australian shows.

“Earnestness and vulnerability, I’ve gone at those again,” he explained.
“I will always go at that kind of energy in my songwriting but I’ve changed as far as leaning into those things more lyrically but also sonically.
“This album sonically feels like some sort of exhale and a simpler, more kind of earnest, direct representation of where I am at musically and my influences at this time.”
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