A Chat with James Vickery (25.06.25)
Binding raw emotion in delicate webs of soul, RnB and pop, singer-songwriter James Vickery has a powerful presence to ensnare your senses. We speak with the UK-based Vickery about his new single, ‘Right Side’, musical inspiration, and future plans.
OSR: Your journey into music is deeply personal and inspiring. Can you take us back to that moment when your vocal coach first realised you had this incredible singing ability?
Vickery: It was completely by accident. The only reason I was ever there was because I had some pretty serious surgeries that required me to learn how to speak again. I think she was probably as shocked as I was. All credit to her though, I always loved singing and once she got me to use proper technique – well, I remember feeling quite emotional, like I was finally being heard.
OSR: Being deaf in one ear due to a childhood condition is a major challenge, especially for a musician. How has that shaped the way you approach sound, music, and performance?
Vickery: It definitely comes with its own unique set of challenges. Certain aspects of being an artist will just take me longer, and as long as the team around me are aware and understanding of that, then it’s fine. Things like, mixing a record is super difficult because my ‘ear’ isn’t good as picking up intricate little details and differences in the mixes, unless I really really concentrate. Also, live performances are just a different beast – I have to get sent everything mono, I have to have wedges on my right, my musical director needs to be on the correct side so I can hear him, the list goes on.
OSR: Your new single ‘Right Side’ is different to your previous output. What inspired the track, both lyrically and sonically?
Vickery: I sort of realised early on in making the whole project that I wanted to push boundaries, I like to think I’ve never shied away from being experimental within the soundscape of RnB in my previous catalogue, but with this song specifically I wanted to explore that even more. All credit to Rance Dopson and 1500 or Nothin on the production side of ‘Right Side’, that’s all them. It’s for sure the first time I’ve felt brave enough to confidently talk about being part deaf in a song (even though it’s disguised as a love song), not because I was scared or anything, but I wanted to find a way to talk about it and have a way that people could relate to it, and also not make people feel sad and sorry for me.
OSR: You’ve spoken about the emotional depth in your music. What feelings or stories were you channelling into ‘Right Side’?
Vickery: It’s a song about me being part deaf. Not a love song at all. Maybe only in the sense that it’s about me navigating my various relationships with my condition. The verse lyrics are me being so grateful that my SO is willing to adapt certain day-to-day habits to make my life easier – “It’s the way you lean in when I talk to you, it’s the simple things and that you do it too”. Even the chorus, saying you’re “Always on my right side” is not because I want you next to me forever, well, I do; but it’s because I can’t hear you if you stand on the left side. On the surface of it, if you take it from that context, my meaning of the song is quite literal, however the co-writer Brittany B and I wrote it so that for anyone else listening it’s a complex love song about wanting you to never leave your side.
OSR: How has working with Red Bull Records influenced your creative process or opened new doors for you artistically?
Vickery: I’d say probably 80% of the album was written in LA. I was born, raised, and still live in London. That luxury wouldn’t have been possible, even things like having a full orchestra day at the Red Bull Studios in Los Angeles for one of the singles was surreal and probably my favourite moment of making the whole album. It made me excited to utilise all these extra tools at my disposal I never had access to before.
OSR: Your voice is often described as one of the UK’s most soulful. Who were the artists or voices that shaped your sound growing up?
Vickery: Like many soul singers I think it’s obvious, the soul divas had such an impact on us all, singers or not. Although I’ve been trying to break it down and I was always really drawn to male singers with big voices growing up, not just in soul, just like, big, powerful voices, ones that could stop you in your tracks. One of my first ever concerts I went to was Boyz II Men and I was absolutely blown away to see in real life men with such impressive voices. I also loved Luther Vandross and George Michael, those two still have such a profound affect on me to this day, both artistically and vocal-wise.
OSR: With such a personal connection to your own voice, given your hearing journey, do you approach vocal performance differently from other artists?
Vickery: I was classically trained, so I like to think that I really value that part of my craft. I also take preparation super seriously, maybe too much so! I won’t really drink any alcohol a couple weeks before a show, and I’ll never do a show without a 15 minute warm up and some manuka honey. It’s probably overkill, but I have this annoying habit of writing songs that are very technical and hard to sing, haha. So, I need to make sure I’m feeling 100% in order to sing them correctly!
OSR: What’s something fans might be surprised to learn about the making of ‘Right Side’, whether it’s a studio moment, a lyric, or something behind the scenes?
Vickery: If you have a spare moment today, go look up Rance Dopson and 1500 or Nothin – the guys who produced this song. Their catalogue is so impressive and too long to even write down here. Those guys are so talented. We wrote it pretty quickly too, despite it having a deep underlying meaning it really flowed out of us so organically- in my experience, a mark of a good song.
OSR: You have performed recently in NYC, LA, Berlin, and Amsterdam in very intimate settings. What does it mean to you to connect with fans in such a close and personal environment?
Vickery: Yeah! So we started this series called Date Night, which was a cute little intimate vibe which allowed us to test and tease some of the new stuff in laid back environments across Europe and North America. It’s actually way more daunting than you’d think. We capped the rooms at no more than 100 people, so I can see everyone so clearly. They were in pop-up venues too that weren’t equipped for live music like hotel bars and restaurants, so we had to find chairs from different areas so everyone could have a seat. It was super challenging but in the most fun way. It’s nice to have fans that care enough to show out for something like that, seeing the reactions from everyone over the new music and still obsess over the old stuff never gets old; it’s my most favourite part of being a singer.
OSR: Looking ahead, Tell us more about the album and upcoming tour.
Vickery: It’s my biggest tour yet – 18 dates across Europe and North America. Performing live to me is the most important thing about doing what I do, even when I write songs I think, “oh how would this sound live?”. I obsess over it and I know that anyone who comes out to the shows is gonna have the best time – I care so much about that.
The album has been in the works for almost 2 years, and I’m confident it’s gonna be worth the wait. I purposefully self titled it because I’m so proud that it’s the most authentic version for me to date. There’s something for everybody with this album.
Many thanks to James Vickery for speaking with us. Find out more about James Vickery on his Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
