James William Durbin (born January 6, 1989) is a rock-and-roll singer and guitarist from Santa Cruz, California. He got his big break when he competed on the tenth season of American Idol, ultimately finishing in fourth place. Shortly after that, he recorded and released his first album, Memories of a Beautiful Disaster, which has enjoyed a fairly significant amount of success. In April of 2014, he released his second album, Celebrate.
Discography:
- Memories of a Beautiful Disaster (2011)
- Celebrate (2014)
- Riot on Sunset (2016)
- Homeland (2018)
James Durbin's works provide examples of the following tropes:
- Calling The Old Man and the Old Lady Out: In "Screaming", Durbin says his parents are "liars" for saying that his life would get better.
- Childhood Friend Romance: "May", but it doesn't end well. See Death by Childbirth below.
- Cover Version: "Everything Burns" is a cover of a song by Anastacia and Ben Moody.
- Death by Childbirth: Happens to the title character in "May."
- Grief Song: "May" tells the story of a Childhood Friend Romance that ends with the girl dying while giving birth to a baby girl.
- Lighter and Softer: Celebrate is much poppier than Memories of a Beautiful Disaster.
- New Sound Album: Celebrate is Lighter and Softer than Memories of a Beautiful Disaster, with more of a focus on pop elements than the hard rock of the latter. Riot on Sunset is sort of fusion between the two, returning to the rock-and-roll sensibilities of Memories, but keeping the lighter tone of Celebrate (for the most part).
- Rock-Star Song: "Stand Up" is a song about how a man feels like to be in a rockstar life.
- Shaped Like Itself: Apparently, the title character in "May" was "just like she was." Subverted later on, when it turns out he's saying that their daughter is just like her mother.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "May" is a huge departure from everything else on the hard-rock oriented Memories of a Beautiful Disaster.
- Shout-Out:
- "Fool For Love" has the line "Would she like me better if I was Bruno Mars?"
- "City of Nightmares" has the line "Buy the ticket, take the ride."
