James Bay Gets Nostalgic With 'All My Broken Pieces'

10-19-2023

(Republic Records) James Bay shares a new single entitled "All My Broken Pieces" out now via Mercury/Republic Records. The track has a special place in James' heart as he wrote the song with Jamie Hartman and Boots Ottestad ten years ago while he was writing his GRAMMY Award-nominated album Chaos And The Calm (which featured the now infamous singles "Let It Go" & "Hold Back The River"). Recently when diving back into some old sessions he found the original demo and decided it was finally time to re-record the track, enlisting Gabe Simon to produce it.

Reflecting over the past ten years of shows around the world, awards, personal growth and life changes James' spoke on the song and said: "When I wrote Broken Pieces I was going through a lot of changes in my life - leaving home, moving into my first place with my girlfriend Lucy, signing a record deal in America. Suddenly I was leaving all the time to travel around the world, I was rarely ever in the same place for more than a week. I somehow felt very vulnerable talking about all of this in songs. It was scary to share that I could feel so broken by experiences that I knew others would've killed for. And it felt very revealing to talk about having someone so vital to me who knew how to put me back together when I felt like falling apart. It's taken a long time but I've always loved this song and it feels like it's finally time to let it out into the world."

It notably lands in the wake of "Goodbye Never Felt So Bad." The latter has already reeled in nearly 3 million global streams and earned critical acclaim. NME hailed it as "anthemic," and American Songwriter praised, "Bay's latest single mixes vulnerable lyricism with the familiar pop sensibilities that have earned him acclaim since his 2013 debut." mxdwn applauded it as "a satisfying bit of folk pop featuring a catchy chorus and expectedly strong vocal performance from Bay."

Produced by Gabe Simon [Noah Kahan] and co-written with Plested [Lewis Capaldi, Dean Lewis], "Goodbye Never Felt So Bad" marked his first release of 2023 and first new music since his 2022 third full-length album, Leap.

James gave fans a sneak peek to the song by performing it live on tour. Earlier this year, he opened up for Bruce Springsteen at London's own BST Hyde Park. This summer, he completed an extensive North American run joining The Lumineers on tour where he got a chance to preview some of his new songs to fans in real time!