Before his highly-anticipated third studio album Leap arrives on July 8 via Mercury/Republic Records/Universal Music Canada, James Bay is sharing one last preview of what’s to come on the record with the new single “Everybody Needs Someone.”
“In these last couple weeks before Leap arrives, I want to share one more song with you,” Bay shared in a statement. “It’s called “Everybody Needs Someone. I love this song so much. I know in hindsight that despite lots of fun work and touring back in 2019 I wrote this song because I was feeling lost and alone.”
He adds: “The feeling came like a quiet tidal wave. It really threw me around for a while. But thanks to the people closest to me in my life, I made it through that time. They know how to hold me up when I’m down. I hope you all love this song too. So excited for you to have it. X”
“Everybody Needs Someone” is driven by Bay’s songwriting and delivery on Dave Cobb’s production. The track is an ode to the attention to detail that makes relationships special by having someone who will pick up on the small things.
“All I want is someone when the night is long / Half a lonely soul to make me whole / ‘Cause everybody needs someone,” he sings. “All I want is someone when the crowd is gone / To see that I’m alone, to take me home / ‘Cause everybody needs someone.”
“Everybody Needs Someone” joins “Give Me The Reason” and “One Life” in the lead up to Leap, Bay’s first full-length studio album since the release of Electric Light in 2018.
“I didn’t realize I was only halfway through making my third album when I came across John Burroughs’ quote “leap and the net will appear.” It was in a book about creative rediscovery and those words really sparked something in me,” Bay wrote in a candid letter to his fans. “I was reading it because I was lost, feeling worthless. By 2020 I’d written a new batch of sad songs. I recorded them and thought the record was done. Then suddenly the world shut down and I couldn’t tour my new music. All I could do was stay home and write more. That’s when the album really started to take shape. It turns out there is light to be found even in the darkest moments.”