Chaos and the Calm

Chaos and the Calm
Studio album by James Bay
Released	23 March 2015
Recorded	2013–14 in Nashville, Tennessee[1]
Genre	Americana[2][3] indie rock[3] folk rock[4] blues[2] soul[2] soft rock[2] pop rock[5]
Length	48:13
Label	Virgin Republic
Producer	Jacquire King
Singles from Chaos and the Calm
"Let It Go" Released: 2 June 2014 "Hold Back the River" Released: 17 November 2014 "Scars[6]" Released: 28 August 2015 "If You Ever Want to Be in Love" Released: 29 October 2015 "Best Fake Smile" Released: 2 March 2016 "Running" Released: 11 March 2016

Chaos and the Calm is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter James Bay. It was released on 23 March 2015 by Republic Records and produced by Jacquire King.

The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album, while the song "Hold Back the River" was nominated for Best Rock Song and Bay for Best New Artist.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	58/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]

Chaos and the Calm received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 58, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 9 reviews.

Commercial performance

The Official Charts Company reported that Chaos and the Calm debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart on 29 March 2015, having sold over 64,000 copies in the first week of release.^[9]

Track listing

Chaos and the Calm — Standard version
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Craving"	James Bay Iain Archer	Jacquire King	3:47
2.	"Hold Back the River"	Bay Archer	King	3:59
3.	"Let It Go"	Bay Paul Barry	King	4:21
4.	"If You Ever Want to Be in Love"	Bay Jimmy Hogarth Steve McEwan	King	3:58
5.	"Best Fake Smile"	Bay Archer	King	3:26
6.	"When We Were on Fire"	Bay Jon Green	King	3:59
7.	"Move Together"	Bay Jamie Hartman	King	4:37
8.	"Scars"	Bay	King	4:32
9.	"Collide"	Bay Thomas EP Hull	King	3:24
10.	"Get Out While You Can"	Bay Ed Harcourt	King	4:43
11.	"Need the Sun to Break"	Bay Joel Pott	King	3:46
12.	"Incomplete"	Bay Jake Gosling Chris Leonard	King	3:41

Chaos and the Calm — Deluxe version (bonus tracks)[1]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Running"	Bay	Bay	3:36
14.	"Clocks Go Forward"	Bay Martin Brammer	Green	4:10
15.	"Stealing Cars"	Bay Green	Green	3:43
16.	"Scars" (live at the iTunes Festival)	Bay		4:43

Personnel

• James Bay - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, lead vocals, background vocals
• Eli Beaird - bass guitar
• Eric Darken - percussion
• Ian Fitchuk - drums, keyboards, percussion
• Jonathan Yudkin - cello, viola

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2015) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] 2 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12] 10 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13] 34 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[14] 4 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15] 16 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[16] 5 French Albums (SNEP)[17] 86 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] 3 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[19] 38 Irish Albums (IRMA)[20] 1 Italian Albums (FIMI)[21] 13 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[22] 6 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 12 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[24] 22 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[25] 37 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 7 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 1 US Billboard 200[29] 15 US Digital Albums (Billboard)[30] 5 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[31] 2 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[32] 2 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[33] 3

Year-end charts Chart (2015) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[34] 17 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[35] 24 UK Albums (OCC)[36] 8 US Billboard Folk Albums[37] 12 US Billboard Top Rock Albums[38] 49 Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Australia (ARIA)[39] Gold 35,000 Austria (IFPI Austria)[40] Gold 7,500 Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[41] Gold 10,000 Germany (BVMI)[42] Gold 100,000 New Zealand (RMNZ)[43] Gold 7,500 Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[44] Gold 10,000 United Kingdom (BPI)[45] 2× Platinum 628,106[46] ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Ireland	20 March 2015	CD digital download	Virgin Republic
United Kingdom[47]	23 March 2015

References

1. "Chaos and the Calm (Deluxe Version) by James Bay". iTunes (UK).
2. "James Bay - Chaos And The Calm". Clash Magazine.
3. Helen Brown (21 March 2015). "Chaos and the Calm, James Bay, review: 'tiring'". Telegraph.co.uk.
4. "James Bay: Chaos and the Calm - Album Review". The Irish Times. 20 March 2015.
5. Tshepo Mokoena. "James Bay: Chaos and the Calm review – festival-ready and forgettably pleasant". the Guardian.
6. "NEWS // JAMES BAY RELEASES ‘SCARS’". tmrw. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
7. "Chaos and the Calm Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
8. "James Bay 'Chaos and the Calm' review". AllMusic. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
9. Jones, Alan (30 March 2015). "Official Charts Analysis: James Bay debuts at No.1 on Albums Chart". Music Week (Intent Media). Retrieved 30 March 2015.
10. "Australiancharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
11. "Austriancharts.at – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
12. "Ultratop.be – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
13. "Ultratop.be – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
14. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for James Bay. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
15. "Danishcharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
17. "Lescharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
18. "Officialcharts.de – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
19. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2015. 13. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
20. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 13, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
21. "Italiancharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
22. "Charts.org.nz – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
23. "Norwegiancharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
24. "Portuguesecharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
25. "Spanishcharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
26. "Swedishcharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
27. "Swisscharts.com – James Bay – Chaos and the Calm". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
28. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
29. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard 200 for James Bay. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
30. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard Digital Albums for James Bay. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
31. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard Folk Albums for James Bay. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
32. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard Top Alternative Albums for James Bay. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
33. "James Bay – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for James Bay. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
34. "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Albums 2015". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
35. "Top Selling Albums of 2015". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
36. Copsey, Rob (5 January 2016). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Artist Albums of 2015 revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
37. "Folk Albums : Dec 31, 2015 | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
38. "Top Rock Albums : Dec 31, 2015 | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
39. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2015 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
40. "Austrian album certifications" (in German). IFPI Austria.
41. http://www.ifpi.dk/?q=certificeringer&page=88
42. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (James Bay)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
43. "New Zealand album certifications". Recorded Music NZ.
44. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards 2015". Hung Medien.
45. "British album certifications". British Phonographic Industry.
46. Jones, Alan (18 March 2016). "Official Charts Analysis: Adele's 25 holds on to top spot despite sales dip". Music Week (Intent Media). Retrieved 18 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
47. "iTunes - Music - Chaos and the Calm (Deluxe Version) by James Bay". iTunes.