James Reid is done with hiding. The actor-turned-musician might be on the cusp of finally finding what he&rsquo;s looking for: himself.

PHOTOGRAPHY&nbsp;Chuck Reyes STYLING&nbsp;Loris Pe&ntilde;a
&ldquo;I feel like this has been some sort of vacation,&rdquo; James Reid quips despite his hectic schedule across Europe. The actor just did his first ever Men&rsquo;s Fashion Week run, flying from Milan to Paris, and is on a high from all the visual stimulation. One show that struck a chord with him was Pharrell Williams&rsquo; third collection for Louis Vuitton. &ldquo;It was a really eye-opening experience being exposed to some of the best [designs] in the world. It was a feast for the eyes.&rdquo; When asked if there were specific pieces that caught his eye, James says he admired Pharrell&rsquo;s point of view as a whole. &ldquo;I love that it was inspired by Americana. He worked with Native American artisans for It too, so that&rsquo;s cool. It makes me want to start my own line, to be honest,&rdquo; James added, eliciting excited murmurs from his close-knit creative team, all present on set. It&rsquo;s not such a far-off idea; after all, Pharrell himself was a musician first before dipping his toes into the fashion industry.
 
But it&rsquo;s not surprising for an artist like James, who quite boldly yet seamlessly shifted from mainstream acting to forming his own entertainment label and producing music, to start something entirely new. He does own Alamat and Japonesa, two trendy bars in Poblacion, so it seems fitting to tuck a fashion label under his belt of growing businesses. &ldquo;Realistically though, I&rsquo;m hard at work on my album. As soon as I fly back, I&rsquo;ll be at the studio working on new music,&rdquo; he admits. Guess that fashion dream will have to wait.

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Currently, James is in the middle of finishing an album and his time at Fashion Week has been an inspirational distraction from the melodic chaos of putting together a musical diary. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited for this next album I&rsquo;m working on because I&lsquo;m kind of bringing it back to something a little more stripped down. I just want to focus on my stories and my own personal experiences in life. [There won&rsquo;t be] much of the heavy instrumental music I was exploring in the past couple of years.&rdquo;
True enough, his past tracks like Jacuzzi and u &amp; i fall under the kind of danceable R&amp;B pop sound that&rsquo;s become distinct to James&rsquo; body of work. This time, though, he&rsquo;s going beyond his signatures, riding on the wave of a creative process that is raw and intuitive.
&ldquo;I do have kind of like a formula [for songwriting] but it&rsquo;s different every time. It doesn&rsquo;t matter where I start writing the song, but the chords of the music are what matters first. The chords determine the emotion. And then the drums, the beat, decide the pace and the rhythm,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;And then the first time I turn on the mic, I&rsquo;ll just freestyle with melodies and see what comes up. I don&rsquo;t really write first, no.&rdquo;

Single-breasted tailored damier jacket and pants, Fitted long-sleeved cotton shirt with pearl buttons, Steamer wearable wallet, LV Checker Derby, all LOUIS VUITTON

Speaking of music, James was cautious when answering my question about exploring the breadth of his range as a musician. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not so much that I wanted to veer away from the mainstream. I just wanted to find my own sound. And I&rsquo;ve done a lot of that in the past couple of years&mdash;creating my own music, going to LA, experimenting with different sounds, and working with a lot of producers.&rdquo; Though he never fails to show appreciation for all the past opportunities and achievements that brought him to where he is today, James is ready to do things his way.
That yearning for control over both his onscreen life and personal narrative also inspired him to start Careless. &ldquo;I wanted to release music that wasn&rsquo;t necessarily what people expected from me. So when I released the album Palm Dreams back in 2017, I released it under Careless Music because it wasn&rsquo;t necessarily under the direction my management wanted me to take. They wanted me to work with different people; they said it had to be a hit. Of course, I went ahead and made [the album] myself. When I played it for them, they loved it.&rdquo;

Cropped Double Face Wool Jacket, Fitted Long-Sleeved Coton Shirt With Pearl Buttons, Leather Damier Pants, Speedy P9 bag,and  LV Checker Derby, all LOUIS VUITTON

Though Careless has been around for seven years and has gone independent since 2019 (it was formerly in partnership with Viva Records), James is still in the process of shaking off the popular leading man image from his time as an actor. Still, he seems to be taking that journey to authenticity in stride.
&ldquo;Being able to surprise people, being able to take risks&mdash;those are some of the main reasons for starting [my own] label. I know it doesn&rsquo;t always work out and there are financial risks, but the freedom to do what we want outweighs the cons. The work in itself is already satisfying.&rdquo; James shares.

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Now, Careless has evolved into not only a music label but also a management company. One of the biggest names under their roster is Liza Soberano, who&rsquo;s set to make her Hollywood debut with a supporting role in the horror romcom flick Lisa Frankenstein, starring Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton. James, unashamed to plug Liza&rsquo;s project during the interview, is proud of Filipino talent getting recognized globally and says this is a mindset the local entertainment industry should have. &ldquo;The Philippines has so many amazing singers and actors and such great talent,&rdquo; he stresses. &ldquo;It just needs to be seen on a global stage.&rdquo;
At this point, there&rsquo;s a particular shift in tone and cadence to James when talking about going global, probably because the idea of reaching a broader audience worldwide isn&rsquo;t such a foreign concept to the 30-year-old multihyphenate. For James, there are no borders when it comes to putting out music and entertainment...just the right timing for things to fall into place.

Chic Collarless Cashmere Blend Damier Jacket and  LV Dynasty Earrings, all LOUIS VUITTON

But other than being an artist under Careless, he&rsquo;s also a manager and business owner. Striking a good balance between being pro-artist and pro-business is tough, and James admits there&rsquo;s a tricky tightrope to tread across whenever he has to pick a side. &ldquo;I try to make my priority both the artist and the business. I understand that it&rsquo;s a handicap and that makes it difficult for me. But I feel like it opens new doors and opens other people&rsquo;s minds when it comes to doing things. If at first, it&rsquo;s not me [who&rsquo;ll be able to make the change], it&rsquo;ll be those who come after me.&rdquo;
Change is what&rsquo;s constant at Careless. James reveals that the company will be cooking up multimedia content in the coming years, even teasing long-form content on streaming services he can&rsquo;t disclose at the moment.
But what about James himself? What&rsquo;s next for this artist continuously on the rise? He turns to his stylist jokingly and remarks, &ldquo;New York?&rdquo; But on a serious note, he leaves me with his mantra for the year ahead. &ldquo;Healthy, wealthy, and wise. That&rsquo;s what I want to be. And I think I&rsquo;m on the path to that already."

Jacket and pants, LOUIS VUITTON

CREATIVE DIRECTION Loris Pe&ntilde;a
PRODUCER&nbsp;Loris Pe&ntilde;a
VIDEO DIRECTOR&nbsp;Louise Daniel
ASSISTANT VIDEOGRAPHER&nbsp;Ferrer Boscan
SHOT IN&nbsp;Paris, France
SPECIAL THANKS TO CARELESS &amp; JOHN LOZANO

Future Perfect: James Reid Is Ready to Show His Most Authentic Self

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