Jay Hearts: 2027’s gonna be very, very big!

There are guests who arrive at the studio, and then there are guests who arrive while their mum waits outside in the car on a freezing November morning.

Jay Hearts is very much the second kind.

To Jay’s mum: we’d have made you a coffee. Next time, please do call in!

Jay dropped in to see Smithy and Ian on Good Morning Cheshire with his guitar, a brand-new single and enough energy to warm the entire building. If you caught him at the Cheshire Show, you’ll know exactly what we mean.

From the Cheshire Show to MIX56

Jay has played for us at the Cheshire Show in Knutsford twice. He doesn’t drive, so he made the trip by train and Uber — then did it all again in reverse.

It was worth it.

People in the café next to our stage kept asking who he was and how they could book him. And once you hear him play, you’ll understand why.

At the Showground, Jay was performing covers — and he’s very good at them. Pubs, clubs and weddings want the songs everyone knows, so Jay mixes ’70s, ’80s and classic 2000s tracks. He grew up on ’80s music, so that era is home turf.

Learning all those songs takes graft. Jay reckons he practises around five hours a day, every day.

“I love singing,” he told us. “It’s my life.”

And to prove it, he played a Justin Bieber song live in the studio with absolutely no warning. One Less Lonely Girl, just Jay and his guitar.

The team were lost for words — which, on breakfast radio, doesn’t happen often.

Michael Jackson, MTV and a five-year-old’s dream

Jay found music when he was five or six, watching MTV with his mum. Then Michael Jackson came on the screen — and that was that.

Jay says watching him sing and dance live felt like a calling. From that moment, he knew he wanted to do the same thing.

School wasn’t always easy. Jay’s family moved around a lot, and he went to Beechwood Primary School before moving to Ashley School, which supports neurodivergent young people. In Year 10, he moved to a mainstream school in Sandymoor, Runcorn.

He was open with us about being bullied at school and college, and about feeling misunderstood during his first year at university.

Through all of it, music was the one thing he could rely on.

Echoes of Me: written in 15 minutes

We played Echoes of Me, Jay’s second single of the year — and it’s already a firm favourite in the studio.

It’s about being stuck inside your own head and overthinking, which will feel familiar to a lot of us.

Jay says he wrote it in around 15 minutes, pacing around his living room and humming the hook over and over. Then he picked up his guitar and showed us exactly how it came together.

His songwriting rule is simple: make it real for you.

Whether it comes from trauma or from something brilliant, Jay believes a songwriter has to dig into what they’ve actually lived through. If you’re writing for everybody else, he says, it doesn’t feel as pure.

“But make it a banger, of course.”

Cold Blood Anthem

Jay’s brand-new single, Cold Blood Anthem, came out last Friday.

He describes it as a message to the people who judged him for being neurodivergent. It’s big, upbeat and uplifting — the sort of track you put on when you need to get the anger out.

It’s also a change of direction. His earlier singles, Voices and Echoes of Me, sat in an alt-pop space mixing indie, punk, funk and R&B. Now he’s heading into psychedelic pop — and he says people are already loving it.

The team behind the music

Jay used his time on air to thank the people around him:

• Jim Wike, the producer behind all three of his singles so far
• Millie Maxwell, his co-writer, who also helped write Cold Blood Anthem
• Nova Productions, the new production team set up by his bandmates and best mates Ashton and Oliver, who he’ll be working with from the end of this year into 2027

And according to Jay, we’re not ready for what they’re working on.

“2027’s gonna be very, very big.”

A big year behind him, an even bigger one ahead

2026 has already been a busy year for Jay.

He finished his Dreams of Unwritten Endings tour with a final show at The Irish Club in Warrington on 25 September, and he’s also been featured on MIX56’s new music show, which showcases emerging artists from across Cheshire.

He’s promised us VIP tickets when he’s as big as Ed Sheeran.

Jay — we’re holding you to that!

Follow Jay Hearts

• Spotify: Jay Hearts
• Instagram: @jay_heartss
• TikTok: @jay_heartss

All of Jay’s released tracks are linked from his profiles.

Give Cold Blood Anthem a stream and show some love for a local talent who is very clearly putting the hours in.