![\"M-32-James-Blunt\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-32-James-Blunt.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\n<\/b>A mega-selling artist recaptures his past to move forward<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m about is not trying to write songs that get played on the radio or become hit singles,\u201d says\u00a0James Blunt, \u201cbecause that would be a hollow inspiration for making music. A desperately hollow inspiration.\u201d To most who know his music or his name, Blunt is the pop star who sold around 20 million records over the past decade, powered by the\u00a0megahit \u201cYou\u2019re Beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
More hit singles followed that song, including the recent effervescent\u00a0Ryan Tedder co-write \u201cBonfire Heart,\u201d the lead single from his new album\u00a0Moon Landing<\/i>. However, as Blunt sees it, his work isn\u2019t chart-topping pop,\u00a0but deeper, soul-bearing music. \u201cOver the past few years I\u2019ve had experiences that are good and some really bad, and I wanted to capture them for this\u00a0record,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I write songs, it\u2019s without you<\/i> in mind\u2014that\u2019s why it\u2019s so naked and raw and personal to me. It\u2019s someone exposing their vulnerability in a world where people are posturing and posing, talking about what\u2019s cool or what car they drive. This isn\u2019t an album to keep up my image or a front. It shows weaknesses and fallibility. That\u2019s what I think is more important than pretending to be something I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the start of his career in 2004\u2014fresh out of the British army, where he held the rank of captain\u2014Blunt\u2019s debut, Back to Bedlam<\/i>, was released on indie label Custard Records. Atlantic snapped him up, and by 2005 he was a household name with the year\u2019s biggest album (current worldwide sales for the record top 11 million). For Moon Landing<\/i>, Blunt decided to return to his roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back to Tom Rothrock, who recorded my first album,\u201d says Blunt, 39. \u201cI wanted to capture it like we did before there was an audience, before there was an expectation of an audience. So we recorded it in that indie way, like we recorded\u00a0Back to Bedlam<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0As he speaks, a car whizzes the singer around L.A. to tape a performance on\u00a0The Ellen DeGeneres Show<\/i>. Blunt has a large audience and is still signed to a major label. For many artists in his position, it\u2019s important to maintain relevance not only to his audience, but also in the current music market climate. But Blunt doesn\u2019t seem concerned about popularity.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo stay relevant to what?\u201d Blunt asks, somewhat aghast. \u201cAs a musician, for me, I\u2019m writing about personal experiences. I\u2019m not writing words that you need to hear, I\u2019m writing words that I need to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Linda Laban<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAMES BLUNT A mega-selling artist recaptures his past to move forward \u201cWhat I\u2019m about is not trying to write songs that get played on the radio or become hit singles,\u201d says\u00a0James Blunt, \u201cbecause that would be a hollow inspiration for making music. A desperately hollow inspiration.\u201d To most who know his music or his name, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[7403,2400],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12320,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12318\/revisions\/12320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}