James Marriott (musician)

When speaking to the Official Charts Company, Marriott compared his song "Denial" to Biffy Clyro's "Mountains", The 1975's "Sex" and "made it to make the listener feel how they might when they turn on "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers".

Current

James William Marriott (born 7 July 1997) is a English musician.

Born in Switzerland, Marriott grew up in Buckinghamshire, and first became interested in music after attending an ABBA tribute concert as a child.

James William Marriott was born in Switzerland on 7 July 1997 and grew up in Buckinghamshire.

Marriott was interested in music from a young age and his father was a pianist.

He attended Bishop Wordsworth's School, which he attended from 2008, the same year he began uploading animations online; by 2012, he had diversified into uploading videos of his instrumental acoustic work.

He went on to study modern languages at University College London, spending six months of the course in Granada, Spain, giving him trilingual proficiency in Spanish and Portuguese as well as his native language, English.

While at university, Marriott attracted attention for his YouTube channel as a commentator on popular culture and music, for which he attracted over two million followers; in an August 2023 interview with Dork, he described his content during this period as "taking the piss out of other YouTubers’ music".

He first attracted attention for his caustic YouTube commentaries and for his Twitch livestreams, and released his debut single "Slow Down" in May 2020, followed by the EPs No Left Brain and Bitter Tongues.

He released his debut album Are We There Yet? in 2023, which charted at No. 17 on the UK Albums Chart.

Marriott cites Foals and the Strokes as major influences, and his music is generally described as indie rock.

He was also part of a YouTube group in 2020, the Eboys, with ImAllexx, WillNE and Memeulous during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group also hosted a podcast with the same name.

He also gained a following as a live streamer on Twitch.

Marriott released his first single, the yacht rock-inspired, "Slow Down", in May 2020, though he later expressed his disdain for the song and even called it "horrendous".

He then released the single "Him", which appeared on his January 2021 EP No Left Brain, which was more guitar-based.

In July 2021, he released the single "Wake Up!", which GoldenPlec described as a combination of "angsty alt-rock" and indie rock, and in 2022 he released his second EP, Bitter Tongues, which hosted previously released singles "Gold" and "Sleeping on Trains", supported with the Bitter Tour in February 2023.

Warrington's Neighbourhood Weekender Festival described the EP as "a genre-inclusive theatrical music piece in which James tackles his own heartbreak, sexuality, love, and his creative identity on social media".

In March 2023, he announced his album Are We There Yet?, supported Jake Bugg at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and supported Lovejoy on tour.

In May 2023, he performed at Brighton's annual The Great Escape Festival, and later that month, it was announced that he would support Lewis Capaldi in an acoustic set in June 2023, though Capaldi later cancelled the gig due to his poor mental health.

July 2023 would see Marriott announce his first ever Australia tour dates, performing two shows in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

Marriott then released the singles "So Long" and "Romanticise This", the latter a deeply personal track about suicidal ideation, after which he performed at that August's Reading and Leeds Festival, at which he debuted "Don't Blame Me", which was released in October 2023.

The following month, he announced dates for a UK and European tour, and released Are We There Yet?, which took its name from a regular utterance of his during car journeys with his family and narrated a hypothetical return to Spain, and which charted at No. 17 on the UK Albums Chart.

The album was produced and written in close collaboration with Marriott's band's rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jono Suter as well as Aleksi Kiiskinen.

In February 2024, Marriott was announced to be playing at the 2024 Reading and Leeds Festivals, on the BBC Radio 1 stage.

Marriott initially "fell head over heels in love with music" after attending an ABBA tribute concert with family as a child.

In an August 2023 interview with Dork, Marriott cited the Strokes, Bloc Party, Foals, and Kelly Clarkson as influences, the latter for the "in your fucking face"-ness of her vocal production, and stated that many of his inspirations came from video games he played, describing himself as "somewhere between Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock and any FIFA soundtrack between ‘06 and ‘13".

He also stated that he likes "having choruses that feel Sam Fender-y" as well as the fact that he thinks Jacob Collier has "an interesting way of writing melodies" and wanted crowds at his shows to feel like how he did when seeing Delta Sleep perform "The Detail".

Marriott also stated that he attended a Dodie concert which "made [him] fall in love with having a string quartet over indie music".

James Wilkinson of AllMusic wrote that Marriott produced "Foals- and Strokes-inspired indie rock".

His early guitar work was inspired by Rodrigo y Gabriela, a flamenco duo inspired by metal music.