Who We Used To Be
British singer and songwriter James Blunt hardly needs any introduction these days. He shot to the top of the charts in 2005 with his debut album “Back To Bedlam” and the super-single “You’re Beautiful” and has collected billions of streams with the aforementioned song alone.
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James Blunt
Some of these songs that catapulted his career into orbit so early were written during his time as a professional soldier in the British Army - where, for example, he served in Kosovo as an officer in the KFOR troops. Since then, James Blunt has been able to concentrate fully on music and has released numerous other single hits and albums.
For example, the piano-heavy ballad “1973” from the 2007 album “All The Lost Souls”, the folky “Bonfire Heart” from “Moon Landing” (2013) or the rather dark “Monsters” (2019), which is on “Once Upon A Mind” can be found. His nasal, haunting voice and his emphatic sound somewhere between folk and pop inspire millions of people - and at the same time, strangely enough, trigger him, even though James Blunt is one of the most charming stage people you can imagine.
But James Blunt can handle it himself: Anyone who doesn't like his music would stand in a stadium at any time when James Blunt reads out his best tweets. This is where his down-to-earth, wonderfully dry, self-deprecating, British sense of humor shines through.
For example, on the release of his best-of compilation “The Stars Beneath My Feet,” he posted: “I solemnly swear that I will never write, record or sing another song as long as I live unless my new album (which comes out tomorrow ) goes to number 1.”
Luckily for his fans, the haters couldn’t bring themselves to buy his album to end his career. To the nasty tweet asking whether there could really be a "Best of" by James Blunt, he replied with the tweet: "Yup, it's called 'Greatest Hit'."
But back to the music – and it remains perfect pop music. His new studio album “Who We Used To Be” will be released on October 27th and the pre-single shows where the journey could go: “Beside You” is livelier and happier than much of what James Blunt has released before.
A danceable, more electronic pop song that, for connoisseurs, even has the great film music composer Ennio Morricone in the credits thanks to a sample.
James Blunt himself says in anticipation of his tour:
“I can't express how excited I am to go on tour again in 2024. My new album was incredibly fun to write and record, and some of the new songs will no doubt get you up and dancing again. I’m already looking forward to surfing with you crowd!”
