Mitch James Reveals The Truth Behind His New Album 'Patience'

New Zealand singer-songwriter Mitch James just released his second album, patience, last week. It’s his most personal, vulnerable and truthful music to date, taking four years to create, through a process of self-discovery, and a few setbacks along the way that’s led him to find the winning formula – staying true to himself.

“I'm really happy with the way that it ended up. There's a lot of personal details and personal stories on there, and I just feel like that's my duty as a songwriter. I'm here to tell my truth and just hope that it helps people.” James explains. “I'm trying to meet my fans on their level. I'm not on a pedestal, I'm exactly like you, but I just happen to write songs. If we can connect on a song because I felt this way and you went through something similar, then I want to bring that connection so close that we're all one.”

After riding the high of his debut self-titled record, James started the writing process with a very different mindset and headed down a path that didn’t feel quite right. It was when things began to fall apart that he had to take a look in the mirror and go back to the drawing board. “I realised I was missing honesty and vulnerability, so I really honed in trying to make that the priority for this record.

“There was a whole quantity of things that just piled on top of each other. I had so much that I had to get through mentally and emotionally that presented itself as this one big opportunity for therapy through songwriting. It turned into different little stories of the things that I was going through.” James reveals.

One of the first songs James wrote for his new record is japan. “It's a great story now but wasn't at the time,” he laughs. “I was going to go on a holiday to Japan with my girlfriend, and then she dumped me, but I saw on Instagram she went on the holiday without me," he exclaims. “That was a very pivotal moment in my life where I found perspective. It was a massive wake-up call for me, in the sense of, like, if I keep living my life like this rock star that I see in movies, I'm going to end up being alone and sad.” At this moment, James was forced to ask himself, “Who do I really want to be?” And that set off the chain of events to start being real about things.

“I think the first album was me from a boy turning into a young man. And then this one is from a young man to a real man. It's been quite intense and challenging, but I’ve always taken the opportunity to grow, and I feel like I can be very proud of that because a lot has changed. I'd rather be real and have a story that everyday people can relate to, and I’m proud of my grassroots,” he shares.

James is currently on a world tour supporting Callum Scott. He is just about to play his 31st show after travelling 144,000 kilometres starting in Estonia, travelling through Europe, the UK, Asia and now, Australia. He’s got six shows left before heading to South Africa to finish. “I'm really looking forward to my own bed,” he jokes. “It's been very exhausting; touring takes it out of you, but I’m so grateful. I feel like I get an energy re-boost every time I get on stage and play in front of people, and I just kind of feed off their energy.

“I've been all over the place the last five or six years. I'm always trying to draw on those real experiences. “There's a song called home is lonely on the album, which is about whenever I do go back home, and it feels different after having success. I love home in New Zealand when I am there, but it's a very different place, and that probably feeds into the fact that I do travel at any given moment I can.”

On his lead single motions, Mitch sings, 'I probably got a couple screws loose/ some pretty crazy stories in my tattoos.' Each of his tattoos represent so many stories, from eventful nights out to his first album artwork, his dogs, his travels around the world and even one to eternalise when Ed Sheeran drew a divide symbol on his wrist whilst on tour with him in 2018. “It was the biggest tour in world history, which is cool to be a part of – it’s so amazing,” he explains.

After this current tour and a hard-earned break, James has big plans for his own headline show around the world next year. “I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to get back here to connect with my fans,” he says.

“All of the problems in all these songs, they're all real things that happen to real people. I just want my fans to know that I'm just like them, and if I can be the beacon to bring like-minded people together and help them out with these struggles that writing the songs helped me, then we all win. I get joy from seeing them be joyful to my songs. It’s the ultimate circle of life.”

“I've learned enough over the last half a decade to know that it's a balance between gratitude and humility to connect with people, and that’s the most important thing to me. If my fans and I can meet on that level, then that's the ultimate sort of energy that I want. Any show that I play is not about that being better than you – I am with you.”

patience is out now.