Personal: James Blunt on his new album made for his family
JAMES BLUNT IS BACK WITH A ‘PERSONAL’ RECORD HE MADE FOR HIS FAMILY. HE TELLS LUCY MAPSTONE WHY HE IS DELVING INTO SUCH A PRIVATE SUBJECT AND REVEALS MORE ABOUT HIS TWITTER TAKE-DOWNS
HE IS renowned for his self-deprecating jokes and comical comebacks on social media but James Blunt is convinced we’d all be happier if the whole thing just vanished.
Although he is widely adored for his hilarious Twitter take-downs and witty zingers, the singersongwriter reckons the online world has fooled us all into thinking that life isn’t as wonderful as it actually is.
“I’ve been on five world tours, I’ve played to thousands of people and they pay good money and they’re so positive and excited, and they sing along to songs that mean something to me because they connected with them in some respect in their own lives,” he says.
“It’s such an incredibly positive feeling, and they are people from all walks of life, all corners of the world, strangers standing shoulder to shoulder in a way that a politician could only dream of.
“Yet I’m always asked, ‘Hey, how are you dealing with all this negativity?’. And I go, ‘What negativity?’ It’s all only online, and online isn’t real.
“The real world out there is really, really positive. The online world seems to be quite negative.
“We should all just chuck our smartphones out of the window and look each other in the eye and we’ll probably have a much happier experience of life.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t see the benefits of the online world from time to time.
“I use it occasionally, take the p**s out of myself, and then go back to doing something normal and real,” he says.
Taking the p**s out of himself has truly become one of troubadour James’s favoured forms of selfexpression, using Twitter to communicate who he really is to his fans – and his haters – having initially taken a bit of a beating earlier in his music career.
Following his years in the Household Cavalry, James’s chart-topping debut album Back To Bedlam in 2004 was a fan favourite, featuring popular hits You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover and securing his place as one of the best British music stars of the 21st century.
Despite global success, the former army officer became a bit of a punching bag for the press and music snobs thanks to the ubiquity of his gooey, radio-friendly tracks.
He now uses that disdain as ammo to keep his 1.9 million Twitter followers entertained with his sardonic wisecracks, giving the platform a different flavour away from Brexit, Trump and trolling.
Speaking about his mischievous headline-grabbing retorts, James is as candid as he is in those 280-character Twitter posts.
“What I normally do is, if I’m just about to tweet, I read it out to the people around me, and if they say, ‘No way you can’t say that’, that’s when I press send,” he laughs.
James, 45, doesn’t use his humour as a shield, though, it is real. He really is as naturally funny, honest and frank as he appears. He’s perhaps less funny – but just as honest and frank – on his sixth album, Once Upon A Mind.
A “deeply personal” record, it was inspired by his family, mostly his unwell father, his wife, Sofia Wellesley, and their two children.
“I wrote my album for my family,”
James confesses. “My father has been unwell, he has stage 4 chronic kidney disease and is waiting for a transplant... he needs a kidney donor and I’m not a match.
“That was a real wake-up call as a family because this man has been so fit and healthy, he doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, and really shocked us to the core, so I’ve been writing songs for him.”
James sings about his relationship with his father on the poignant ballad Monsters, while on single, Cold, he laments having to leave his wife and children at home for long periods of time while touring.
“My father and I, we love each other and he’s been the most amazing father to me all my life and we know the bond that we have but, if you have a limited amount of time with that person on this earth, then there are some other things that I, as a songwriter, feel it would be a good time to say.
“That’s why the words to Monster say, ‘I’m not your son, and you’re not my father, we’re just two grown men saying goodbye, we need to forgive and we need to forget, I know your mistakes and you know mine.’
“Those are kind of risky things to say because you hope they’re not misunderstood or taken the wrong way, but they say something deeper than just I love you, you’re my father; I love you as my friend as well.”
He adds: “At the same time, at the other end of the scale, I have a new young family, and so I thought of life playing out in front of me. With that circle of life, that’s a real huge inspiration to write this album.
“I go away on tour for extended periods, up to 18 months at a time, leaving that little family behind and with that comes loneliness and guilt and isolation, not just on my part but sometimes on theirs too.
“So I haven’t been writing for the audience. I’ve been writing for the people I leave behind at home.”
James says he is not afraid to be vulnerable with these songs, adding: “I’ve always enjoyed standing up on a stage, and you do expose yourself; you expose your fears as well as your hopes and your failings.”
However, he’s aware he has taken some risks with the new record.
He’s not just exposing himself, but his personal relationships, too.
“If you’re going to expose the inner workings of a relationship and then get on stage and sing about it, then yes... you hope you don’t hurt the people at home,” he admits. “There’s no point in just writing fluff, really. But I’ll be nervous when those people are there in the audience, definitely.”
...if I’m just about to tweet, I read it out to the people around me, and if they say, ‘No way you can’t say that’, that’s when I press send
James on his tweet technique