MY BOOK IS REALLY BOG STANDARD... BUT IT PANS THE TROLLS
JAMES REVEALS WRITING INSPIRATION
JAMES BLUNT has thanked Twitter trolls for inspiring him h to pen a book... which can be used as a multi-purpose item in the bog.
The singer, who was Guilty Pleasures’ agony uncle during the first lockdown, has merged his famous experiences on social media to show what 2020 has been like for him in How To Be A Complete and Utter Blunt: Diary of a Reluctant Social Media Sensation.
Now more famous for his comedic Twitter put-downs than his singing, he told GP: ‘You can stop me doing live music by introducing a virus, but in doing so I will just put a book out.’
The You’re Beautiful singer says army banter gave him the thick skin to survive trolls when he first became a prime target more than a decade ago.
‘In the army we never take things seriously. We take the p*** out of each other,’ he said.
The 46-year-old admits he was ‘surprised’ by the ‘negativity’ he received when he released music.
But he joked: ‘I was selling albums in the millions which was a surprise too. You get that people might buy it, but then you have people who are very angry with my existence which was a shock. I am not that bothered by stuff I don’t enjoy or like. If there is a TV show I don’t like I don’t watch it. It would be weird of me to go online to say how much I dislike it. But people do. Humans are crazy like it.’
Social media has turned people into ‘narcissists’ but also given him a chance to fight back, he said.
‘Twitter allows me to reply to people as a human rather than a marketing team... in fact, I am just a vulgar idiot. ‘Twitter brings out the worst in people and Instagram brings out a side in people to show off their life that doesn’t really exist.
‘That results in other people feeling in inadequate about themselves.’
James is ‘glad’ trolls exist as, ‘for that reason I have a book out’. But he warned online life is challenging the sanity of families. ‘Society has become very self-orientated... narcissistic. Will children think their parents are mad because they spend time looking at their phones? Probably not because they just spend their time looking at the iPad,’ he said.
So why should fans buy his story? ‘The second wave of virus is with us now. People have been panic buying loo roll and there is a shortage. This book is designed to be read sitting on the loo and pages used as appropriate afterwards,’ he quipped.
The book, published by Constable, is out on Thursday.