Penning songs at a prolific pace since middle school, James TW speaks directly from the heart without filter. The platinum-selling UK singer and songwriter leans into wisdom gained on a personal journey from playing drums in his dad’s band at the age of ten to performing on legendary stages such as Radio City Music Hall at barely twenty-years-old. After generating over 2 billion streams, selling out headline shows on multiple continents, and receiving acclaim from Atwood Magazine, Billboard, Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, and many others, he quietly emerged as the biggest artist you’ve never heard of. Now, you’ll hear him as he opens up like never before on a series of singles and more music in 2021.
“For me, instincts build songs,” he states. “I take these ideas from the universe and write them on the page. Out of hundreds of songs, you feel these kinds of magic moments a handful of times. A lot of my lyrics are very conversational. I’m usually speaking to someone else, or I’m amplifying the inner monologue in my head. The production evolves, but everything is still driven by my words.”
Back in the town of Warwick, James got his first taste of the stage by playing with his father. Promised “a Red Bull and the chance to stay up all night,” he spent five years holding down the drums in his father’s wedding band. “That’s where I fell in love with music,” he says. “It was from behind the drum kit. It wasn’t because I heard a song and wanted to be a songwriter. That came later. It was really rooted in drumming at the beginning.”
After a series of stunning viral covers, he inked a deal with Island Records and launched his breakout single “When You Love Someone.” It eventually amassed over 500 million-plus streams and received a platinum certification in the UK and a gold certification in the U.S. He hit the road with Shawn Mendes and Andy Grammar and captivated millions of viewers on television shows, including Ellen and The Today Show. Everything paved the way for his full-length debut, Chapters, which housed hits such as “You & Me” and “Say Love.” Atwood Magazine raved, “Chapters serves as a stunning showcase of the artist’s knack for crafting ardently affecting tracks.”
At the top of 2020, he commenced work on his next musical chapter. Around the same time, the world went into lockdown and he found himself at the end of a six-year relationship.
Confronting a flurry of turbulent emotions, he turned to music.
“Everything I wrote was about the breakup,” he admits. “I basically met her when I was 15-years-old. We started going out a year later. We were living together. I was honestly planning the rest of my life around her. It was obviously a big shock to the system, so the songs came flooding out. I wanted to capture all of the different emotions in the aftermath. It wasn’t a crazy, heated, and horrible breakup. It was slow, sad, and accepted by the both of us. We even lived together through the Lockdown. We were best friends, and that didn’t disappear even though the romantic side fizzled. It gave me more closure than if we just went our separate ways immediately.”
Kicking off this chapter, the single “Butterflies” flutters from a hypnotic riff and fingersnaps towards confessions such as “I get drunk. I feel lonely. Try to drown all the noise in my mind, but alcohol doesn’t hold me the way you did.” The gritty admissions belie the infectiousness of the chorus.
“Whenever you’re with a person for a certain amount of time, there are all kinds of traits that develop,” he observes. “It was really hard for me to lose this relationship. A part of me still wanted us to turn around, get back together, and make it work.”
Then, there’s “Hopeless Romantics.” It offers a vivid snapshot of the breakup’s aftermath with organic instrumentation and another emotional refrain.
“It was actually the first tune I wrote after I moved out,” he recalls. “Many of the songs sort of said, ‘I really miss you’ and hinted at wanting to be back together. This one says, ‘I’m okay now. I don’t need that’. I wanted it to be a happy breakup. I’m proud of that relationship even though it didn’t work out. The song was the last time I went back to the place where we broke up. I just wanted to celebrate what we’d done together.”
In the end, James TW resonates through fearlessly sharing these raw feelings.
“I hope my music makes you feel less alone or like someone else knows what you’re going through,” he leaves off. “When you’re brutally honest, there are other people who feel the same way too. I’m trying to learn about myself and understand who I am. The reason I listen to music is it sends me somewhere else. If you step out of your mind for a second when you hear me, that’s great.”
