Don't Tell the Dog

James Marriott, who had been born in Switzerland, raised in Buckinghamshire,{{Cite web |title=Race cars and recording studios: James Marriott's unconventional path to pop stardom - Dork |url=https://readdork.com/features/james-marriott-interview-march-25/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250405010201/https://readdork.com/features/james-marriott-interview-march-25/ |archive-date=2025-04-05 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=readdork.com |language=en-GB}} and had moved to Brighton by June 2025,{{Cite web |title=James Marriott: "I was trying to reinterpret attachment theory through the lens of my childhood" |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/james-marriott-on-the-rise |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=The Line of Best Fit |language=en-US}} had previously peaked at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart with Are We There Yet? in 2023. He wrote his second album over a year while undergoing therapy and had recorded it by July 2024 over three weeks at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate. One track sampled the squeaks of a nearby playground slide. He provided an advanced copy to Dork via WhatsApp as one continuous 40-minute file with no commentary, which they described as "the most annoying album delivery we’ve probably ever had". He told the publication that he had "wanted to take it in a direction that was a little bit less indie-rock and more indie-pop" as he felt that parts of Are We There Yet? were slightly self-indulgent.

The album's lead single, "I Don't Want to Live Like This", charted at No. 67 on the UK singles chart{{Cite web |date=2025-02-13 |title=JAMES MARRIOTT |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/64980/james-marriott/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Official Charts |language=en}} and No. 1 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. He released a grunge track, "Toothache", in March 2025,{{Cite web |title=James Marriott visits a dodgy dentist in his new video for ‘Toothache’ |url=https://readdork.com/news/james-marriott-toothache/ |access-date=23 June 2025 |website=Dork}} which he had written in the green room at Chalk in Brighton about a childhood dental problem he ignored due to his apathy towards pain.{{Cite web |last=Wilson-Taylor |first=James |date=2025-03-20 |title=James Marriott Shares New Single 'Toothache' |url=https://rocksound.tv/news/james-marriott-shares-new-single-toothache |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Rock Sound |language=en-GB}} A music video for the track featured Marriott visiting a cheap dentist. He released a further track, the indie folk track "It's Only Love", in May 2025, which was accompanied by a folk horror-inspired video featuring an axe throwing Marriott bringing scarecrow couples to life. He picked the track as a single to represent the second half of the album.{{cite web |title=James Marriott has released his melancholic new single ‘It’s Only Love’, from second album ‘Don’t Tell The Dog’ |url=https://readdork.com/news/james-marriott-its-only-love/ |accessdate=23 June 2025 |publisher=Dork}} Just before the album was released, "Something's Wrong" entered the UK singles chart update at No. 97. "Plasticine" was also considered for single release; that track discussed his childhood hobby of making claymation models to process his loneliness.

Don't Tell The Dog was released on 13 June 2025. Its tracks contained references to childhood loss, breakups, and unprocessed guilt, and Marriott used the writing process to vocalise feelings he had been unable to get out during therapy. The album's cover featured a clay model of his childhood dog Jasper and its title took its name from an incident involving a childhood move in which the dog had been left behind. Among its tracks were "Limbs", a raw track he purposefully left unfinished to evoke sounding broken, and "Food Poisoning", a track about denial. The Line of Best Fit wrote that the album "splits like a vinyl record: Side A filled with narrative vignettes, Side B drifting into uncertainty".

The album was promoted with a string of in-store appearances and charted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, beating albums by Sabrina Carpenter and Oasis.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Thomas |date=2025-06-20 |title=James Marriott Bests Oasis & Sabrina Carpenter for His First U.K. No. 1 Album |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/james-marriott-oasis-sabrina-carpenter-uk-number-one-album-1236003689/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Billboard |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Panons |first=Jacob |date=27 June 2025 |title=Influencer musician celebrates topping the album chart |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddzy84jpdno |access-date=27 June 2025 |website=BBC News |language=}} It also topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and the Official Record Store Chart.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-20 |title=James Marriott celebrates first Number 1 album with Don’t Tell The Dog |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/james-marriott-dont-tell-the-dog-number-1-album/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Official Charts |language=en}} The Line of Best Fit was struck by how deeply Marriott was willing to excavate and described the album as "jagged, unvarnished, and quietly devastating". The Official Charts Company described the album as "playful yet profound" and "anchored by Marriott’s signature introspective lyricism and theatrical flair", and wrote that its blue dog artwork was "a symbol of the album’s balance between personal chaos and creative clarity".{{Cite web |date=2025-06-26 |title=DON'T TELL THE DOG |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/albums/james-marriott-dont-tell-the-dog/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Official Charts |language=en}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = James Marriott.

| headline = Don't Tell The Dog track listing

| title1 = Ventriloquist

| length1 = 2:50

| title2 = Something's Wrong

| length2 = 3:20

| title3 = Plasticine

| length3 = 3:02

| title4 = It's Only Love

| length4 = 3:31

| title5 = Food Poisoning

| length5 = 3:05

| title6 = Toothache

| length6 = 3:17

| title7 = I Don't Want to Live Like This

| length7 = 2:54

| title8 = How Could I Say No?

| length8 = 3:30

| title9 = Pillow Fight

| length9 = 3:00

| title10 = Why Don't You Kill Me?

| length10= 2:40

| title11 = Limbs

| length11= 3:24

| total_length = 34:39

}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = James Marriott.

| headline = Don't Tell the Dog (Digital Deluxe) track listing

| title1 = Ventriloquist

| length1 = 2:50

| title2 = Something's Wrong

| length2 = 3:20

| title3 = Plasticine

| length3 = 3:02

| title4 = It's Only Love

| length4 = 3:31

| title5 = Food Poisoning

| length5 = 3:05

| title6 = Toothache

| length6 = 3:17

| title7 = I Don't Want to Live Like This

| length7 = 2:54

| title8 = How Could I Say No?

| length8 = 3:30

| title9 = Pillow Fight

| length9 = 3:00

| title10 = Why Don't You Kill Me?

| length10= 2:40

| title11 = Limbs

| length11= 3:24

| title12 = Staring at the Sun

| length12= 3:27

| title13 = Don't Tell the Dog

| length13= 3:15

| title14 = Best Friend

| length14= 2:54

| title15 = Wish You Were There

| length15 = 2:36

| title16 = Can I See You

| length16 = 1:58

}}

{{reflist}}

Category:2025 albums