Estelle Clifford: This is not what I had in mind - Mitch James

After a decade of chart-topping hits, sold-out tours, and almost 300 million streams, Mitch James is stepping away from music for good.

He's set to take the stage  one last time for The Final Show – an emotional send-off at the Christchurch Town Hall on Saturday 24 May.

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to share her thoughts on Mitch James's final album.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tames podcast
from News Talks at me.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
From the very first moment I looked in your eyes,
it saw me bout our love as you stand in
the maid you hold in the hands of the new
little light, that shoe me you brought me by calling.
I started to pray you held me in crossing so sweet,

(00:36):
lot of biddies, when I started running, I know I
was running here the start of the stormy of everything.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'll have it be.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
My mama and me time passing by.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
That is Mitch James, Mama and me. And it's a
bit of a sort of sad day for Mitch James.
Fancy a celebration. I suppose he's performing his last show tonight.
It's gonna be in Christich's town Hall, and you know
it sort of brings to an end a pretty extraordinary
decade or so slightly more. I suppose performing around the world,

(01:20):
hundreds of millions of streams. Mitch James has achieved so much,
but he's not happy with things at the moment. So
Stelle Clifford Music Reviewers with us this morning. Stelle, We're
going to have a bit of a listen to Mitch's album.
This is not what I had in mind named this
is not what I had in mind. In a couple
of minutes, but yeah, talk to us about why this

(01:42):
is not what Mitch had in mind.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
I think this is the perfect example of you, like,
do that hard graft at the start. Yeah, you decide
to go overseas, you do some couch surfing with your guitar,
your plavery gig known to man, and then suddenly you
get this contract and the whoolwind begins. You're releasing songs
number one, you're nominated for Song of the Year, you

(02:05):
are winning MTV europe Music Awards, and it's just right
in that rock and roll lifestyle, right, and it's all
full on. But then there's the business behind that. And
when you've signed up to a big label, they've got expectations,
they've got processes, and you become part of that.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
You become a business, you become part of the machine.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
You do and business and creative is always this real
fine line of how that works, right. I think that
sometimes it really quash squashes a person's creativity processes. I
think that often you're signed as an artist because that's
what you've got and that's what they love. But you know,
there's an evolution of a person, there's an evolution of

(02:49):
an artist, and I think sometimes those contracts feel like
they're keeping them inside a square, inside the box, and
I think he just wanted to branch out from that. Also, shoot,
its hard graft to make money and music and there's
just to pay in life to live.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I mean, it's crazy. So I mean, he has had
more than three hundred million streams online and the people
who think if you're getting three hundred million streams, you
should be sorted, you should be set, that's not even
less even.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
Less right, because the companies take the money. And again
that's just so hard on the creative industries. That needs
to change. Something needs to happen there because someone's definitely
filling their pockets, but it's often not the artists. The
artist is way down the chain of people who get paid.
And I mean even for an independent artist, because Mitch has,
you know, through his career ended up going independent and

(03:39):
then he's jumped on board with six sixties label for
this final album. But there's you know, it's still is
hard and all you have to be touring constantly to
be on the road like twenty four to seven and
how do you live a life around that?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Too?

Speaker 4 (03:53):
And I think he's just, you know, like he's checked himself.
And I think it's hard to park the ego sometimes
of loving that, you know, and you love that thrill
of people in a live setting and loving new music,
and the response is yet, but to park that, he
go and go It's okay for me to do something else.
I can still love this and be this, but I'm
actually also going to do something else that makes me

(04:13):
feel passionate and happy. I spect that so.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Much, Yeah, because it's really hard thing to do.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah, And I think that he needs to remember just
because he's not doing it right now or he's not
going to continue doing it for a while, it'll always
it's always him. It's always going to be a part
of him, and it maybe will come and go in
different ways. All those skills will become so useful for
budding to me, you know, Like, I think I hope
that he's excited too. I imagine tonight's show is going
to be a little bit like that Mamma and Me

(04:40):
song where it's like so tender and beautiful and vulnerable
and it makes you want to cry, but you also
kind of want to laugh through life's journey. And I
saw a couple of days ago they released about fifty
more standing tickets for the town Hall in christ Church. Okay,
I dare say they're gone. Yeah, it's going to be
packed out to the to the broom. And you know

(05:02):
this this album is such a You listen to it
and you're like, why would you leave now? But isn't
it also great to leave on such a high? And
this is definitely some songs he's put together that he
loves that it's his artistry where it's all those tender,
vulnerable storytelling lyrics that he's renowned for that very relatable
because they're just life stories. I hope there's no showies

(05:24):
on stage tonight, Mitch James, but look that was that
was a phase also in some of your live shows.
But there'll be those moments too, right Yeah, And I think, yeah,
he's got some really cool songs, but this album just
captures all of those things that he's been as an artist.
It's really clever actually to have these eight final songs.

(05:47):
There are all of it. There's also a party song
which I know you're going to play a bit of
real soon called the Lads, and it summarizes what I
mentioned tonight is going to be. We're here for a
short time, that a long time, here for some fun,
you know, poor, some.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Drinks, some mischief, hands of the.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Cheeky too. And I like that he meant to get
that personality out and his music. I've really enjoyed listening
to this album. It's fun, it's a real It almost
doesn't feel like a full stop, but I totally get that.
It's a great place to also go. Check out this
Last Firing album. If you haven't seen the music video
for Mama and Me that you just played, he did

(06:25):
this real setup where he was taking his mum into
this hall to say, I'm going to show you the
music video for the first time. It was actually the
Danida and Symphony Orchestra and him. They sat her down
and they made the music video right there and he's
saying it to her. I cannot watch that video without
tearing up.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
It is so nice.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
And I love that too. Here's a guy showing all
his feelings and there will be all of those tonight
at that gig if you're lucky enough to go along
to it. But you'll feel it in this album too,
So if you're not at the gig, it doesn't matter.
Listen to this album. Lyrics are beautiful, fully committed, his
vocals are really great. Heat to catchy riffs. You know
he's gonna of songs now that are going to go

(07:07):
on the charts. Yeah yeah, and you'll go off and
do something else. And I and I think that's really
it's kind of funny.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
So what did you give it?

Speaker 2 (07:13):
What do you give it?

Speaker 3 (07:14):
This is not what I had in mind by Mitch Jane.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Let's just see the mountain.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, go on, go on.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
You can hardly say a seven, right, yeah?

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah yeah yeah, ten?

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah yeah no, very good.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
All right, Well, have a bit more of a listen
to a couple of minutes forget that the lads song
that you recommend. Thank you so much of Stellasure. Stelle
Cliff is our music reviewer ten out of ten. But
this is not what I had in mind. And if
you're lucky enough to be going along to the christ
Church Town Hall this evening to see Mitch perform his
last show, make sure you have an awesome time.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack tame, Listen live
to news talks he'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio