James Righton announces new album with first single "Pause"

"Pause" is Righton's first new material of 2022, following last year's "Release Party" single, and is accompanied by a Julian Klincewicz-directed video.

The new single and "Release Party" will both feature on Righton's upcoming album Jim, I’m Still Here, which will follow 2020's The Performer album, and will include a guest appearance from ABBA's Benny Andersson.

Righton says of his new album, "The alter ego of Jim came to me whilst promoting my previous album The Performer during the first week of lockdown. Life shut down and became centered around family and domestic life. At the same time (and this did feel rather strange) I had to promote The Performer. I was asked more and more to live stream concerts through various social media platforms. So. I’d put the kids to sleep, head downstairs to my garage studio, put on my Gucci suit and became someone else. The juxtaposition of these two lives felt extreme but also interesting to me. I created Jim. Jim would be the deluded rockstar, living out his fantasies from the confines of his garage. James was Dad."

He adds that the pandemic allowed him to write about his "wife, my children, friends who I miss and a friend who sadly passed away from Covid during the first month of the pandemic," which resulted in an album that he describes as "more personal, raw and unlike any other I’ve made."

Righton concludes, "To be clear Jim and James are both me. Jim is an exaggerated semi fictional version of me. James changes nappies, makes dinner and reads bedtime stories to his kids. Jim craves external validation, likes, followers and adds to playlists. But in truth you can never fully detach Jim from James. The balance and constantly shifting nature of this duality I find endlessly fascinating."

Tracklist:

1. Livestream Superstar
2. Pause
3. Touch
4. Release Party
5. Real World Park
6. Never Give Up On The City
7. A Day At The Races
8. I Want To Live
9. Lover Boy
10. Empty Rooms (Feat. Benny Andersson)
11. Playing To Win
12. Farewell Superstar