HitFix

Interview: Why James Blunt is having the last laugh

by: Uproxx authors

James Blunt is having the last laugh. His new album, “Moon Landing,” which came out Nov. 5 in America, debuted at No. 2 in the U.K. and first single, “Bonfire Heart” is burning up the chart in a number of countries, including Germany where it”s his first No. 1 single.

The album reflects a change of pace for the British singer songwriter and represents the truest side of himself he”s shown since his breakthrough smash “You”re Beautiful,”  from 2005″s “Back to Bedlam,” which catapulted him into superstardom, and inspired a level of vitriol among his detractors that seemed far out of proportion.

“‘You”re Beautiful” stripped me of my indie roots and put me in a dirty, dirty place called mainstream,” he says, only half joking (Indeed, many reviews for “Back To Bedlam” are glowing, comparing Blunt to Elliott Smith and Badly Drawn Boy, but as soon as “You”re Beautiful” became massive, the backlash started).  

Blunt adds that he has loved and is grateful for all that came after, but it took until “Moon Landing,” his fourth studio set, to settle down enough to strip away the veneer he”d built up since then and write from a place of honesty

With “Moon Landing,” written largely in Los Angeles, he and “Back To Bedlam” producer Tom Rockroth went back to the beginning. “It was important to go back to him without my band, to go back to a place before that audience was there,” Blunt says. He admits on his last two albums, 2007″s “All The Lost Souls”  and 2010″s “Some Kind of Trouble,”  “I was writing songs for an audience, not the words I needed to say;  I didn”t want to be as open because I didn”t want to put myself through that again.”

But he found he yearned to express that side of himself and he thinks that reclaimed genuineness is what people are responding too. “I”m not hiding behind anything,” he says. “Before, I think I was feeling [defensive] when [I] was asked in an interview, ‘Are you romantic,” and not in a positive way, it means you”re not macho. And I”d say, ‘No, I”m not. I”m a soldier”,” says the Kosovo army veteran.

Still, he has his limits when it comes to expressing himself too much. He and OneRepublic”s Ryan Tedder wrote “Bonfire Heart,” a song about falling deeply and passionately in love.  But coming out and telling Tedder directly that was the thinking behind the song was a bit too much. “I never normally say ‘this is what I”m going through” because I”m a man and that would feel very uncomfortable to me”,” he laughs. Instead, he went on tour with OneRepublic and on the tour bus, he and Tedder would write, inspired by the gentle, steady feel of the wheels turning beneath them. “We spar off each other with lyrics. That”s unusual for me. We”d make a racket, we”d make a noise.”

For the most part, “Moon Landing”s” songs tackle such universally shared emotions as love and longing, “I write about what is it to be a very simple human being; what we feel en masse,” he says. “I don”t write songs about how incredible or how different I am, which many songs do. I write about what it”s like to be normal. That definitely comes out of having been in the army and traveling around  and meeting people.”

In fact, the experience of writing “Moon Landing” has made him acutely aware of artists who aren”t showing their true selves. “I”m on the charts with artists who surround themselves with expensive cars, expensive jewelry, girls… that”s just kind of bullshit,” he says. “They”ve constructed an image, smoke and mirrors. They want the audience to think that they are big and strong and powerful, but they”ve surrounded themselves with bodyguards who are much bigger and stronger.” When asked if he had any artists specifically in mind, he said, “I”m definitely not naming names.”

One artist he”s not wary of naming by name is Whitney Houston. The song “Miss America,” was written about her and her tragic downfall.

 “We never met and in many ways I”m glad we didn”t,” he says. “In the same way that an audience member looks at a singer and thinks they know him, we go online and buy magazines to see them at their best and their worst. It”s about her incredible voice and talent and it”s the same story as Amy Winehouse and Princess Diana and and Michael Jackson and, maybe in the future, Justin Bieber. It”s how much we enjoy speculating on their downfall a bit too much.”

Ever since “You”re Beautiful,”  Blunt has had plenty of critics who have wished for his downfall. And lately, he found a new way to silence them: poke fun at himself on Twitter.

For the last few years, his label had encouraged him to engage with his fans more via Twitter, but he just couldn”t fathom tweeting what he”d had for breakfast or some other minutiae.

A few months ago, however, he decided that instead of interacting with his fans, he”d find the people tweeting the most hideous things about him and he”d answer them. But instead of talking trash back, he”s let his sense of humor shine through. Below are a few examples.

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“The first two I did, I thought they were amusing and self deprecating. My label called me and said, ‘Don”t do any more of that. It”s not cool,” he recalls with a laugh. “And I thought, ‘What the f**k am I going to do?””

What he did was ignore his label and he continued not only replying to the negative commenters but seeking them out.  And it”s clear it”s done more to change the perception of Blunt as an uber-sensitive, keening male singer than anything Atlantic Records could have ever planned. The label, once eager to silence his replies now includes a link to a Buzzfeed article about his tweeting.

“I suppose because of marketing, I”ve come across as earnest,” he says. “When the truth is, I take myself less seriously than anyone I know.” With Twitter, he appreciates the fact that there”s no filter. “It could have gone all wrong because what I”m doing is I”m going online and searching my name. I”m running tweet deck and all [my fans] are doing is saying ‘retweet me,” and I”m looking for the ones saying mean things. I find myself completely avoiding the ones I should be engaging with, but I really enjoy engaging my detractors….the people who sit in the comfort and security and shadows of their bedrooms. It”s just great fun.”

Plus, as anyone who follows him on Twitter knows, he is never mean spirited in his replies, even to people who say horrible things to him. “It some ways, I”m saying, ‘jump on the stage with me and say that out loud”,” he says. “And I try my best to not be rude or horrid, only to myself, which is easy.”

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