James Marriott: Charting albums, performances and new singles

The YouTuber-to-musician pipeline has birthed many popular artists, such as Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran, who started by posting covers of songs online.

But recently, there has been a rise in one particular artist who started by creating regular YouTube content and who had a passion for music on the side. 

James Marriott started his career posting videos online, commentary videos on viral situations, or streaming on Twitch.

Music News Blitz writer Atlas Scholes delves into James Marriott’s rise to fame, charting albums, singles and performances across his career.

Rising star

If you listen to BBC Radio 1 when the top 40 are being played, you may have heard the song ‘California Rain’ being played in that number 22 slot. 

It’s a song from rising star James Marriott, written whilst he was on tour in America, about homesickness and self-doubt.

As his 13th single, it has surpassed all expectations. 

His only other charting single is ‘I Don’t Want To Live Like This’, which peaked at 67 on the Official Singles Chart.

He’s discussed before that he would not be in the position he is in without his dedicated fanbase, one he’s curated throughout his time as a content creator before his music career.

Most of the James Marriott fanatics started by watching him on YouTube or Twitch, meaning that his hard work to create a fanbase for the content he was producing online could double up in his music career.

He now has just over 450k monthly listeners on Spotify (and still finds time to post the occasional video either on his own channel or with his good friend WillNE).

Alongside his top-40 single, Marriott also has a No.1 album titled ‘Don’t Tell the Dog’, which was released in June 2025. 

He battled it out against Sabrina Carpenter and Oasis and topped the album charts at the end of June.

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Discography and meaning

The album depicts a story of childhood loss, breakups and guilt.

The album cover shows a dog made out of clay, named Jasper, the name of Marriott’s childhood dog that he left behind when his parents split up.

Marriott’s discography is heartbreakingly honest, writing often about loneliness, guilt, death and unacceptance.

From his first album (‘Are We There Yet?’), his single ‘Romanticise This’ is about suicidal ideation during a relationship, and ‘Don’t Blame Me’ is heavily influenced by a break-up.

‘Are We There Yet?’ and ‘Don’t Tell The Dog’ are both LPs with very different sounds about the same heartbreak that Marriott has experienced in his life.

During his concerts, however, a crowd favourite is off his EP ‘Bitter Tongues’, released in 2022, called “Car Lights”. 

Whilst the explicit story behind the song has not been discussed, Marriott has stated that it is about a time in his life when he was younger, when he had feelings for a boy and never explored them due to fear.

It’s become an anthem of sorts for his fanbase and evidently means a lot to Marriott, too. 

During his last tour, there were a few instances where the overwhelming support from his fans during the song left him in tears on stage.

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Concerts and stage presence

However, his concerts aren’t all sad; songs such as ‘Grapes’ and ‘Sleeping On Trains’ leave the crowd jumping, dancing and singing – a real testament to Marriott’s stage presence that can have the crowd crying one song and in a moshpit the next.

His progression on stage has everything to do with the confidence he’s gained in himself as a musician – it’s not only visible through his music but also through his creativity on stage.

During a tour with band Lovejoy, Marriott’s vocals were never questioned, but his performance was very much “guy-plays-guitar-and-stands-at-the-mic-stand” – which is completely fine and still made for a great time, but it’s nothing like his performances today.

His main-stage presence has significantly improved, putting on a real show for his audience.

During his latest tour, he opened with the song ‘Ventriloquist’.

A strange, dramatic entrance for Marriott ensued, where he posed in the flashing lights behind the smoke before launching into his song.

The drama didn’t stop there. For the rest of the show, James bounced, danced and even rolled around the stage, really putting an end to his habits of standing at a mic and ensuring everyone in the audience had a real show to watch.

Final thoughts

James Marriott has managed to cultivate a real community through his career.

For those few hours when you’re in the venue, you really do feel like you’re surrounded by friends you’ve known for years.

His rise as a musician is proof that anyone can do it if you work hard.

Marriott has been creating music for just short of 6 years now, with each song, EP and album better than the last.

A third album has been teased already, and it will be interesting to see which direction he takes this time around.