James Bay: Let It Go

James Bay's new single is, disappointingly, not a cover of the song from Frozen. Instead, it's a gently strummed "maybe its best if we go back to being friends" sadballad.

It is also a big favourite of Taylor Swift, who accosted James Bay backstage at a Hozier concert to quiz him on the song last year. He told me this anecdote at great length last December when I interviewed him for the BBC's Sound of 2015 list. Here's the transcript.

"I'd just been around America supporting Hozier and she [Taylor] had come to see him – because I believe she knows him. Her entourage was bringing her backstage to meet him but he was going on stage for the encore. My dressing room at this venue was the hallway, so we stepped back as she came by but she stopped and said, 'are you James Bay?'. Obviously I was like, 'well, yeah' but thinking 'how would you even know?'

"And she sort of went into this whole thing about how she has a regular playlist she listens to, and she's got a couple of my songs on there. So my song, Let It Go, she was dissecting the lyrics in front of me. Telling me about her favourite lines in the verses. People usually only know the chorus, but she was reciting the lyrics. It was bizarre.

"But she seems to have carried on listening and she’s obviously an enormous pop star, so it’s a really amazing bit of appreciation. I guess it’s not the norm, but some crazy stuff seems to go on in this music business."

Yes, James. The music industry is crazy. All these people listening to other people's music. Oh, unknowable universe.

Next you'll be telling us Bono owns a guitar! And Beyonce sleeps in a double bed with Jay-Z! And Ellie Goulding once borrowed a sweater from her sister without asking but her sister said it was ok anyway! Mental.

Anyway, here's the video.

James Bay - Let It Go

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