It’s so hard to know. The way he’s been discussing things is so vague that it’s kinda hard to figure out what he’s trying to say. It does feel like he’s talking around something, which look 100% is his right to have privacy and not having people freak out. For me the real alarm bells was that statement where he talked about “extending his life”. At first I thought it was just James being James and him just being a bit odd and firing something off on socials, but when people started panicking and discussing it online and there were a lot of articles about it I kinda thought he would issue another statement clarifying things and say “I’m hoping I’m going to be ok” sort of thing, but he didn’t. And that kinda said a lot to me tbh.
I’m also not super familiar with how these things work but don’t albums for musicals come out after the actual full proper show premieres? Kinda feels like the album is being put out for James, because he mightn’t be around for the show. I really hope that’s not the case, but odd vibes all around. Wishing him the best. He was my favourite member and I used to be so obsessed with him