James Bay is taking his new found fame in his stride

Touring with Hozier gave James Bay a glimpse of ‘the next big thing’ status that awaited him, writes

JAMES BAY does not look like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders as he sits in the corner of a swanky Dublin hotel, getting stuck into the business end of a breakfast burrito. Wearing the trademark dark felt hat he sports in all his photos, the 24-year-old is friendly and relaxed — and breezily unconcerned about the tsunami of hype building around him.

“I suppose I am under pressure to an extent,” says the winner of the Brit’s Critics Choice award for most promising newcomer (you may have heard of some of his predecessors: Sam Smith, Adele, Ellie Goulding).