Bradley Simpson Presents His Solo Debut, Painting a Vivid New Era [THE PANIC YEARS]

Photo Credit: Sony Music

It’s no secret Bradley Simpson knows how to make an album that fans will love—evident in his work with his band, The Vamps—but when it comes stepping out on his own, it is new territory.

Bradley says, “I hope these songs and stories can help [fans] navigate those experiences. [The songs] can become the soundtrack to their lives, whether they’re dancing, crying, going out or whatever it is. It really feels like an opportunity to let them into a side of my life that I haven’t shared before.”

After releasing his debut solo single, Cry at the Moon, almost a whole year prior to his brand-new album, The Panic Years, Bradley Simpson has already shown us what he’s made of. 

The first track on the album is his debut solo single, and after a forceful debut, it set the tone for this new era of Bradley Simpson, showing what’s in store for the listeners.

Blending elements of both indie and alternative rock, Bradley has managed to land on a sound that is both new and nostalgic.

The second track of his album, and coincidentally, his second single, Picasso, uses word play, and with references to the artist, Picasso, Bradley paints a picture with his lyrics, stating things like ‘you only paint tragedy’, ‘turn torture into art’, and ‘painting burns and beautiful scars, brushing on my body parts’.

Carpet Burn, the third track, and final single before fans get their hands on this shiny debut, follows – a subtle sounding song at first, which soon kicks into exploring passion intently, discussing the ins and outs of a new relationship, and the infatuation between two people. Since Bradley released this song back in January, it has very quickly become a fan favourite out of his solo material. 

Reminiscent of music Bradley made with The Vamps, Daisies proves to be an easy-listening pop song, that carries on the themes of a relationship, but allows the listeners to have a break from some of the deep lyrics from previous tracks.

The album begins to take a turn and a new perspective, with Holy Grail being a beautiful love song, about ‘giving in’ to the person you are with, and surrendering yourself to fall more and more into them, with lyrics like ‘i’d be satisfied with you until forever’. When listening to the lyrics, it’s clear that it is written from Bradley’s point of view, telling the person he loves, straight to their face, starting with the opening line ‘would you mind if we had a little conversation?’

Not Us Anymore takes the tempo of the body of work down, leaning into a different sound, separated from the rest of the album, taking on a sensual side to Bradley’s music, and taking you on a journey; a night of freedom and careless nature. It proves that there are different sides to Bradley you are yet to see. 

Starting off with an acoustic guitar counting in the rest of the instruments, The Band’s Not Breaking Up is a song made for long-time fans of The Vamps, and of Bradley himself. The lyrics of the song start off as if Bradley is catching up with an old friend, as he says ‘hello there’ and asks how things are at work, then saying that it’s been ‘some months’ and that he’s now ‘doing his own thing’.

The lyrics ‘you ask about the boys, and you wonder if this is the end’ is stated as if it is taken directly from a fan’s brain and put to pen and paper.

When members of the massive pop band began to work on their solo projects, fans began to question the future of the band they had grown up with, and this song puts those questions to bed, with Bradley responding to this question — ‘The Bands Not Breaking Up’.

Later in the song, Bradley states that himself and the rest of the boys are ‘brothers’ — they will always have a connection to each other, and the love will always be there between them no matter what, and as this song comes to an end, we move on to the last entry of Bradley’s debut solo album…

The Panic Years starts with just an acoustic guitar joined by Bradley’s dreamy vocals.

The first line of the song mentions 10 years of panic, and the whole song alludes to the panic Bradley felt being thrown into the spotlight at a young age, and not knowing how to cope with feelings he has carried with him as the years have gone on. As a closing song it encapsulates the feeling of the entire album and everything that Bradley has been through, and sets the tone for where he feels he has landed after being in the industry for 10 years. 

His newly announced 2025 UK tour dates are listed below, please see HERE for a list of his remaining shows this year.

Photography Copyright 2025 © Sony Music. All rights reserved.

Text Copyright 2025 © Alisha Lawton/ADRENALINE Magazine. All rights reserved.