Critics' Choice singer-songwriter James Bay heads to Oxford

He is destined to be one of this year’s biggest newcomers; an artist everyone is talking about, with an acclaimed new album and his biggest ever tour.

But, let’s face it, the one thing we really know James Bay, pictured, for is that hat.

“Absolutely!” he laughs. “I realised at some point that it could be a little trademark.

“But initially it was purely instinctive, I liked the look of it and the feeling on my head, and I played a gig with it on.

“I don’t sleep in it, I’m not going to be a 30-something with greasy long hair and a hat on his head, don’t worry!

“Fashion does go hand in hand with pop music, but I’d like to think people will come to the gigs for the music - and not because I’m wearing a hat.”

First popping up on our radar screens last year with his tune Hold Back the River – which went on to attract 13 million listens on online music streaming site Spotify - James has become a very hot property.

He won the Brits Critics’ Choice Award for 2015 – an honour previously held by the likes of Adele, Florence and the Machine, Sam Smith, Tom Odell and Emeli Sande.

It’s not bad for a 24 year-old from suburban Hertfordshire.

His album The Chaos and The Calm has stormed up the charts at home and hogs the iTunes top 10 across the world – taking the top spot in many, including the UK.

He is proud of his achievement. “I was trying to make a record for the first time ever, which was both a daunting and exciting task,” he says.

“You realise that a lot of your life has built to this moment where you step into the studio and get cracking. But being daunted is healthy too. It would be weird if I totally knew what I was doing. Actually, in a lot of respects I didn’t.”

He goes on: “Some of the songs were demos which I felt had already developed to the stage where I was happy with them.

“I knew how I wanted them to impact upon listeners when I was playing them live, but I didn’t have a huge idea about how I might record them.

“You just want to make something that sounds good so in a way, you’re never exactly sure how the recording process will go.

So now it’s out, how does he feel? “Well, I’ve heard it a lot obviously, and you go through a lot of emotions, from thinking it will never ever be finished to being pleased that it sounds like a proper debut album.

And what I mean by that is it has a lot of different flavours to it, incorporating all the different sounds that I love and want to use to portray myself as an artist.”

The key, he says is setting himself apart from the thousands of other singer-songwriters out there; something that takes more than a nice hat.

“There’s nothing wrong with being labelled a singer-songwriter but it’s often equated with being a guy on a stage under a spotlight in a hushed room,” he says.

“I love that kind of thing and it is part of my set, but there is a whole other part of me which likes to rock out. Then there are various levels in between those two extremes.

“It was important on the album to capture that entire spectrum. And I feel good now, listening to it. I feel I nailed that sense of being able to show what I can do.”

So is there one song on the album that defines him, and his work?

“It’s difficult to know, because it’s not live, which is where the whole package usually comes together,” he answers. “But to try and answer your question, it changes every day. Today it’s Scars - I’m really pleased with how that came out, and that started out as just me with a guitar.

“I did have a strong vision of how I wanted it to sound with all the other instruments and I got close to that, I think. But I would never say anything is perfect.

“I don’t want to sound too preachy, but someone told me last year that great art is never finished, it’s only amended. And that really resonates with the experience of trying to make something that feels like your own child.

“You care about it so much that you want it to be perfect, but you soon learn that nothing is. You have to abandon it in the end and say ‘right, that’s finished, close the book.’ That was a big lesson for me.”

Was he surprised by the success of Hold Back The River? Well…yes.

“On the one hand, I have no idea why a song like that can strike a chord. If I did I’d be a multi-millionaire, multiple Grammy Award winner.

“And that’s the beauty and the magic of music. But then, I do think Hold Back The River feels very real and honest – and those are things that resonate with me when I really like a song. They were the characteristics of me and my music I was trying to get across with that song. The rest of it, the millions of listeners, is subjective and down to personal taste.”

He goes on: “I listen to a lot of music, and you try and draw from your influences. What I think is interesting about trying to create your own sound is that it comes from a process of trying to replicate the artists you love - and failing. In naturally failing to sound like your inspirations, you end up creating something unique.

“I’m not just trying to be a pastiche, though,” he says. “There’s lots that I’m bringing to the table that is my own – not least because I want to do this for a while by standing out!

“Yes, I play acoustic guitar a lot and I’m not really including many electronic or synthetic sounds right now – but that’s not to say I won’t in the future.”

While confident in the ability of his music – and even his hat – to attract attention, there’s one thing he admits he hadn’t quite banked on: becoming a teen heartthrob.

“I’m only even in their minds and on their screens because I put music online that didn’t have my picture with it,” he says modestly. “They liked what they heard and then they wanted to see what I looked like. It is what it is, there’s not a lot I can do about it, but actually it all helps if people listen to the music too.”

And how does he hope they feel having heard it? “I hope that it makes them feel something, that it moved them,” he answers.

“That’s all I look for in music, because that often means I’ll go back to it. It’s very simple.”

James Bay plays the O2 Academy on Sunday, April 19. Tickets have sold out.