A sharper Blunt
The singer expounds on living with Carrie Fisher, his new album and throwing barbs on Twitter
AT the end of last year, when the music world was still mourning Prince, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and many more, James Blunt tweeted, “If you thought 2016 was bad, I’m releasing an album in 2017.” The singer-songwriter was showing the self-deprecating qualities that have won him the kind of respect his music has not.
True to his word, Blunt’s fifth collection, “The Afterlove,” is out Friday, and it’s a lot more varied and fun than most of his detractors would believe.
“I’ve been that miserable guy with the guitar, and I’ve done really well,” he tells The Post. “But it would be dull to repeat myself.”
Here, the 43-year-old Brit explains how his No. 1 hit “You’re Beautiful” is not all it seems, recalls living with Carrie Fisher and discusses his hilariously ruthless retorts to Twitter trolls. The 2005 hit “You’re Beautiful” earned a harsh backlash due to its sappiness and omnipresence. Were you upset by that?
It was a good song that got overplayed. I like hamburgers, but if you gave me hamburgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I’d hate them. I find it really funny when people say “You’re Beautiful” is romantic, because it’s creepy in the way that “Every Breath You Take” [by the Police] is creepy. But I don’t have too much to complain about. That song gave me a career. Do you feel your witty Twitter responses have helped rehab your image and made you cooler?
I’m not very prolific, but every once in a while, after a beer, I like to go on Twitter and abuse myself more than whoever was trying to abuse me in the first place. Is there a Twitter putdown you’re particularly proud of?
I enjoyed some of the more childish responses. I think one of my personal favorites was . . . “James Blunt’s face really aggravates me.” So I wrote something like, “Well, sit on something else.” Your period living at Carrie Fisher’s house in LA, in the early ’00s, inspired the title for your debut album, “Back to Bedlam.” Was it really that crazy?
It was a bit of madhouse — and the food was terrible. But she was a wonderful person who took people under her wing. Paul Simon used to pass on by, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright, people like that. Her place was like a commune — it was a very creative environment. There were no airs and graces with her, and I was crushed when she passed last year. There’s a story that UK’s Princess Beatrice tried to knight you with a sword at a party, but inadvertently slashed Ed Sheeran. How true is that?
There are clear holes in this story that Ed has been telling . . . Princess Beatrice is [seventh] in line for the throne or whatever, so she’s obviously going to be a dab hand [highly skilled] with a sword. Also, he’s saying that he . . . got stitched up and came back within an hour. [National Health Service] wait times are much longer than that. I’m the one that mopped up and looked after him. If Ed Sheeran is propagating this story, he must be desperate to sell records. Next thing you know, he’ll be rapping!