NEWS
James Blake: 'It's not cool anymore to just be like ‘Coldplay's not cool.’ Just f**k off'
06 March 2025
Singer-songwriter James Blake sat down with BBC Sounds podcast ‘Sidetracked with Annie and Nick’ this week and talked about launching a new streaming platform, making new music and gives his take on Coldplay and icons Elton John and Stevie Wonder.
“Coldplay bashing has got to stop. It's not cool anymore! It's not cool anymore to just be like ‘Coldplay's not cool.’ Just f**k off. There are so many amazing Coldplay songs. And Chris Martin's clearly a melodic genius. And you don't like the sound of their last few records, okay…? It's like, all right. When you go and see them at Glastonbury, did you like a lot of the songs? Probably. Maybe the band changed the way they dressed? It’s like, are we not allowed to change the way we dress? Are we not allowed to bloody write songs in a different genre? Like, who cares, man? I get really a bit irate about this!”
James elaborates on “cool”, talking about the time he met Stevie Wonder, and reveals he cried afterwards
“I couldn't really talk [when I met Stevie Wonder]. I was just like….thank you! I just said thank you over and over again, even though he wasn't saying anything nice to me really! [laughs] I met him at a party - it was a post Oscars party - one that I was actually invited to! I met him there and I remember being led up to him, someone introduced me. I can't really…remember [the rest]! I believe we talked about him playing on some music. [But] I was actually too afraid to text. It was actually crazy. I was actually too afraid to get in touch. And I didn't in the end, because it was like, it was almost too overwhelming. I didn't really know how to deal with it! Yeah, it sounds crazy. Because he's like, well….why wouldn't you want to work with your hero? But it was too much. He's number one. It's not like meeting any other musician for me. I cried afterwards. Like it was just totally overwhelming and kind of like impossible!”
James praises Sir Elton John for being so good at championing new music and references that Sir Elton was very good to him earlier in his career
James: “He's seeing everything completely fresh at all times. That is one thing I love about Elton and what he does on his radio show. He was always very kind to me. I think he's probably the most supportive figure in music.”
Annie: “Consistently uplifting. You always hear stories of him calling people up, new artists up, encouraging them.”
James: “And by the way, [he has] a high level of taste. He picks the right horse!
Nick: “He was talking [on 6 Music] about how much he loves Kneecap and Perfume Genius and Hot Wax. And he also knew everything like stats and chart positions off the top of his head. And he gave, as you said, like such great advice for musicians and saying like, you know, it's meant to be hard, you're meant to struggle, you're meant to have the fear. That's what makes you an artist.”
James shares his thoughts on the pitfalls of the music industry, plans for his new CYMK Group, launching a streaming platform and plans for new music later this year
“I was essentially making other people more money than I was making for myself. I thought, I'm going to have to break this up and figure out what's actually going on in my career at least… [it was] very hard to tour, you know, like post pandemic. So, I started to look at that and go, this doesn't really feel sustainable. Like the sale of music, that felt unsustainable too, because of….streaming, in the sense of, you know, being paid peanuts on the dollar, really. I was looking around at all my other artists friends and they were all saying the same things…. I can't even imagine what this is like as a new artist going into this.”
“I'm going to release music later this year. I'm making a lot of music. I'm starting my CMYK group company thing. We are starting a live stream, which will just be us in the studio - it's kind of like a, I guess, like a weird art exhibit that will just be online and hopefully form this kind of, you know, background to people's lives if they tune in - as sort of like - if you can imagine…I think it'll be sometimes really relaxed and ambient - us just making music in the studio. Sometimes it will be artists joining us. Sometimes it will be much more raucous, but sometimes it will be like techno, sometimes it will be rap! Whoever's in basically - obviously it won't be me rapping. [laughter] So that will be fun!”
“Coldplay bashing has got to stop. It's not cool anymore! It's not cool anymore to just be like ‘Coldplay's not cool.’ Just f**k off. There are so many amazing Coldplay songs. And Chris Martin's clearly a melodic genius. And you don't like the sound of their last few records, okay…? It's like, all right. When you go and see them at Glastonbury, did you like a lot of the songs? Probably. Maybe the band changed the way they dressed? It’s like, are we not allowed to change the way we dress? Are we not allowed to bloody write songs in a different genre? Like, who cares, man? I get really a bit irate about this!”
“I couldn't really talk [when I met Stevie Wonder]. I was just like….thank you! I just said thank you over and over again, even though he wasn't saying anything nice to me really! [laughs] I met him at a party - it was a post Oscars party - one that I was actually invited to! I met him there and I remember being led up to him, someone introduced me. I can't really…remember [the rest]! I believe we talked about him playing on some music. [But] I was actually too afraid to text. It was actually crazy. I was actually too afraid to get in touch. And I didn't in the end, because it was like, it was almost too overwhelming. I didn't really know how to deal with it! Yeah, it sounds crazy. Because he's like, well….why wouldn't you want to work with your hero? But it was too much. He's number one. It's not like meeting any other musician for me. I cried afterwards. Like it was just totally overwhelming and kind of like impossible!”
James praises Sir Elton John for being so good at championing new music and references that Sir Elton was very good to him earlier in his career
James: “He's seeing everything completely fresh at all times. That is one thing I love about Elton and what he does on his radio show. He was always very kind to me. I think he's probably the most supportive figure in music.”
Annie: “Consistently uplifting. You always hear stories of him calling people up, new artists up, encouraging them.”
James: “And by the way, [he has] a high level of taste. He picks the right horse!
Nick: “He was talking [on 6 Music] about how much he loves Kneecap and Perfume Genius and Hot Wax. And he also knew everything like stats and chart positions off the top of his head. And he gave, as you said, like such great advice for musicians and saying like, you know, it's meant to be hard, you're meant to struggle, you're meant to have the fear. That's what makes you an artist.”
James shares his thoughts on the pitfalls of the music industry, plans for his new CYMK Group, launching a streaming platform and plans for new music later this year
“I was essentially making other people more money than I was making for myself. I thought, I'm going to have to break this up and figure out what's actually going on in my career at least… [it was] very hard to tour, you know, like post pandemic. So, I started to look at that and go, this doesn't really feel sustainable. Like the sale of music, that felt unsustainable too, because of….streaming, in the sense of, you know, being paid peanuts on the dollar, really. I was looking around at all my other artists friends and they were all saying the same things…. I can't even imagine what this is like as a new artist going into this.”
“I'm going to release music later this year. I'm making a lot of music. I'm starting my CMYK group company thing. We are starting a live stream, which will just be us in the studio - it's kind of like a, I guess, like a weird art exhibit that will just be online and hopefully form this kind of, you know, background to people's lives if they tune in - as sort of like - if you can imagine…I think it'll be sometimes really relaxed and ambient - us just making music in the studio. Sometimes it will be artists joining us. Sometimes it will be much more raucous, but sometimes it will be like techno, sometimes it will be rap! Whoever's in basically - obviously it won't be me rapping. [laughter] So that will be fun!”
