James Fauntleroy Talks Debut Studio Album, Lessons from Rihanna: 'Time for Me to Take a Step Out' (Exclusive)

The Grammy winner will release 'The Warmest Winter Ever' on Dec. 8

For the last two decades, James Fauntleroy has heard quite a few requests for him to release more solo music. He’s turned them down, for the most part, with the same response each time: “I’m not an artist.”

But the Grammy winning songwriter and producer — whose work for Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake and others has earned him critical and commercial success — has a different response to those requests today.

“The truth is, obviously, I'm all sorts of artists,” he tells PEOPLE, just weeks before the release of his debut, The Warmest Winter Ever. “I'm a music artist. I'm a visual artist. I'm an artist, and so it's really exciting to finally feel like it's time to step into that identity after all this time.”

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Fauntleroy, 39, will officially share his debut studio album on Dec. 8, in the form of the 25-song long-awaited Christmas LP. And just like choosing a Christmas album for a debut is a bit unorthodox, so is the makeup of the album itself, in only a way he can make sound so good.

The Warmest Winter Ever takes Fauntleroy’s beloved vocal harmonies and plants them on top of sensual holiday jams, consisting of two previously released Soundcloud EPs from both 2014 and 2016, as well as a few brand-new cuts.

“I just think that it's not a hundred percent up to me,” Fauntleroy says of his decision to finally release his debut. “It's like I couldn't control being born with my voice sounding how it sounds, or my mind thinking how it thinks. Even Rihanna posting this s--- and John Mayer posted my s--- and a long list of celebrities and people telling me, ‘I love this. I love that.’ I just can't take it anymore. I have to show people that I hear them and I see it and that I'm going to do something about it.”

“It's just time, man, it is time for me to take a step out.”

Fauntleroy’s decision to make his solo work more accessible on streaming platforms follows a career of major wins both behind the scenes and on the biggest stages imaginable.

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He’s a four-time Grammy winner who famously stepped on stage with Bruno Mars when he took home album of the year for 24K Magic in 2018, he’s responsible for nearly every song on Timberlake’s 2013 The 20/20 Experience and he’s also the co-founder of California-based music school 1500 Sound Academy. Plus, the musician has a decades-long creative partnership with Rihanna, which started with 2009’s Rated R and extends to as recently as this past month.

“I've known her for so long, and the last session I did for her was last week," he says. "So I've known her for so long, and I think the biggest lesson I learned, whether I knew or not, was just confirmed by her ascent from pop starlet to literal billionaire is the value of taste."

“She just has excellent taste, dude. And I feel validated in my taste because of her and other people, the other superstars that I've worked with, that I also respect their tastes that are validating me in that same way.”

But now it’s not just Rihanna giving Fauntleroy’s solo work a nod of approval, it’s the Recording Academy as well. In early November, Fauntleroy opened his phone to a barrage of text messages — many of which he’s understandably yet to answer — congratulating him on earning his first-ever nomination for his solo work. His collaborative effort with Terrace Martin, Nova, earned a Grammy nod in the best progressive R&B album category.

“My first thought was, ‘Wow, I never thought I would be nominated as an artist.' For most of the time, I was fighting the fact that that's who I am and what I am. And so I really wasn't thinking that not only could I actually be an artist, but I could get nominated for a Grammy as an artist,” he says.

“That's the definition of beyond my wildest dreams because I didn't even imagine that that could happen. And so hopefully I win, but whether I win or not, the fact that I even got nominated is pretty nuts to me.”

His nomination comes during a major year for songwriters and producers who’ve found success with their own solo work, such as Metro Boomin and Victoria Monét — who earned seven nominations herself thanks to her debut LP Jaguar II.

“It's time for all these guys, Metro Boomin, for instance, who's just been doing quality s---. You know what I mean? The whole time. I think it's time for that to really have its moment in this generation,” he says of songwriters and producers getting love.

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As for his upcoming debut Christmas album, which Fauntleroy jokingly admits he isn’t chasing Mariah Carey numbers with, he’s ready to welcome some new fans — not just the ones who have been waiting on more of his material to hit streaming services for all these years.

“I'm living in the world I created now, but I just want to bring people into it,” he says. “I want to bring the people like me that believe in what I believe in. I want to see the things I want to see. I want to bring them into my world and show them how awesome it can get.”

The Warmest Winter Ever arrives on Dec. 8.

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