music.wikisort.org - Composition

"If You Ever Want to Be in Love" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Bay. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 October 2015 through Republic Records as the fourth single[2] from his debut studio album Chaos and the Calm (2014) after originally being included on Bay's 2014 Let It Go EP. The single was certified gold in the United Kingdom in April 2022.

"If You Ever Want to Be in Love"
Single by James Bay
from the album Chaos and the Calm
Released	29 October 2015
Recorded	2013–14 in Nashville, Tennessee[1]
Genre	Blues rock alternative rock
Length	3:58
Label	Republic
Songwriter(s)	James Bay Jimmy Hogarth Steve McEwan
Producer(s)	Jacquire King
James Bay singles chronology
"Scars" (2015) "If You Ever Want to Be in Love" (2015) "Best Fake Smile" (2016)
Music video
"If You Ever Want to Be in Love" on YouTube

Background

Bay told PopCrush the song is "about a few different experiences and scenarios" saying "I was really keen to [move away from home] when I was 18, and I moved about 2-3 hours away ... Suddenly, I was really aware of the feeling every time I went home back to the town where I grew up in. When [I'd see my home town friends] again, there was always that talk of we're all back in this town -- it was a small town. We'd come together and one of the stories amongst all of this is always, "I saw that girl who I had something going on with and it really it sort of fizzled out and didn't end up being anything because we both went to different parts of the country." Some people have that feeling of "what if?" and that slight feeling of regret that they moved away. So the song is kind of referencing that whole part of your life where you leave and whenever you come back to visit, there's those things that make you think "What if I hadn't left?" There's those reminders, maybe still there. Or maybe you've come back to visit as well and it's kind of about chance meeting between two people who started from the same place, went away and came back again."[3]

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "If You Ever Want to Be in Love" was first released onto YouTube on 29 October 2015 at a total length of four minutes and forty-three seconds.[4] The clip was directed by Sophie Mueller and sees Bay performing in a small venue not dissimilar from the pubs and clubs he was playing before the album's release.[5]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2015–16)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[6]	53
Slovenia (SloTop50)[7]	46
UK Singles (OCC)[8]	96

Year-end charts

Chart (2018)	Position
Iceland (Plötutíóindi)[9]	31

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[10]	Gold	25,000
Portugal (AFP)[11]	Gold	10,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[12]	Gold	400,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United Kingdom	29 October 2015	Digital download, streaming[13]	Republic

References

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