James Hersey Delivers First Full Length Album “Fiction”
Austrian-American electro pop artist James Hersey has revealed his first full length album “Fiction” and lets cut to the chase...it's a knockout. This album has come with high hopes and great anticipation with teaser tracks “Souvenir,” “Forget (About Everyone Else),” and “Closer (ft. Chromeo)” and with much relief, there is no disappointment here.
A lively, spring fit tracklist, the album is accented by a punk attitude and showcases Hersey flexing a knack for writing rich melodies alongside ear candy production, which in total invites listeners to enjoy a bit of levity. “Fiction” is an excellent showcase of triumphant talent.
“Fiction is about taking a step beyond realism to see the inner workings of a mind in love. The album opens at the height of infatuation and optimism with ‘Closer (feat. Chromeo)’ and takes the listener through stages of doubt, confusion, conflict, and hope, to find empowered clarity on the other side.”
Produced in equal parts before and after the pandemic lockdowns, it buoyantly grapples with themes of romance, empathy and, as Hersey succinctly puts it, “unconditional everything. Above all we need to learn to accept and appreciate ourselves and the choices we’ve made, and this album is a reflection of that.”
With a cavalcade of blockbuster viral cuts behind him, whether the tender “Miss You” (which boasts a whopping 117 million Spotify streams to date ) or the malleable “Coming Over” (a rework of which by filous resulted in a No. 1 hit on the Dancecharts), Hersey set out for a musical reinvention and exploration by grappling with an overarching question: “What is my voice and what do I represent?”
The answer Hersey found was a creative penchant that harkens back to the artist’s early roots and one that marks the exciting next phase of what’s become an eclectic creative trajectory. “I grew up playing in punk bands, writing acoustic love songs, and hanging out with turntablists and rappers.” he explains. “This latest chapter carries the DNA of my youth. I took the lessons of life as an artist - a decade of life on the road - and presented them to the soul of the kid inside me who has nothing but a dream to live for.”
A streaming sensation, Hersey has stacked up the listens and views, with 350+ million streams world wide and 5.8 million YouTube views to his name. James has amassed hundreds of millions of streams worldwide, led by his self-penned hit single "Miss You" at over 150M, certified Gold in Italy and Canada. Hersey's 2014 rooftop video of his song “Coming Over” was the launch point of his international career, from which dance heavyweights filous, Kygo and Dillion Francis reworked worldwide smash-hits.
2017’s Pages EP rapidly made him an online sensation, gaining support from the likes of Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, as well as Mistajam, Adele Roberts, Cel Spellman, and Maz Tappuni (Communion). In 2019, his exceptional eight-track mini-album “Innerverse” accrued over 30M streams.
Along the way, Hersey has received accolades from tastemaker publications including The Telegraph, Wonderland, The Line Of Best Fit, CLASH, DIY, Idolator, EARMILK, Red Bull, and tmrw Mag.
