UK · indie rock

James Marriott

5 festivals played ↓

YouTuber-turned-legitimate indie rocker — wry, anthemic, and self-aware, with a built-in audience now singing real choruses.

James Marriott was born in Kilchberg, Switzerland, in 1997 and grew up in Buckinghamshire, England, where his father worked as a pianist. He started posting videos online as a teenager, first animations and later instrumental acoustic guitar pieces, while attending Aylesbury Grammar School. He went on to study modern languages at University College London, spending six months in Granada, Spain, before turning his attention fully to music.

At university Marriott built an audience of more than two million subscribers on YouTube with commentary videos about pop culture and music, and later joined the YouTube group Eboys alongside other online creators, gaining a further following through Twitch livestreams. He has since said that period was harsher than he intended, and that he would have found another way onto the platform if he could.

He writes guitar-led songs with big, singalong choruses, leaning on self-deprecation and dry humour to circle anxiety, growing up and life lived partly online. He has released his music independently, starting with the debut single "Slow Down" in 2020, followed by the EPs No Left Brain and Bitter Tongues, the latter dealing with heartbreak and his own social-media persona. Its track "Grapes" became a recurring viral trend every September, and around this time he moved from London to Brighton.

His debut album, Are We There Yet?, reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart in 2023, and his second, Don't Tell the Dog, went to number one in 2025, followed by the top-40 single "California Rain." He tours with a full band, playing to crowds largely carried over from his online following, and his live shows tend to be loud and communal rather than solo-acoustic.

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indie rock