James Blunt: “I was a OneRepublic groupie”

James Blunt goes back to basics - and Back To Bedlam – on his new studio album, Moon Landing.

James Blunt released his hotly anticipated new studio album Moon Landing today (Monday, October 21), so we thought we’d invite him over to Official Charts HQ for a chat!

The British singer / songwriter is a real Official Chart legend, having sold more than 4.4 million albums in the UK alone. His 2004 debut, Back To Bedlam, is the UK’s 16th biggest selling album of all time, with a sales tally of more then 3.27 million copies.

More recently though, James has been riding high in the Official Singles Chart with the first track to be released from Moon Landing – Bonfire Heart. Co-written by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, Bonfire Heart became James’ first Top 10 hit in nearly six years when it debuted at Number 6 two weeks ago. However, James has revealed that he had to go to extraordinary lengths to secure the services of the Beyonce and Leona Lewis hit-maker.

“I jumped on the OneRepublic tour bus and was like a groupie to them,” explains James. “Thankfully, I didn’t have to put out”.

In addition to working with Ryan, James demoed the majority of the album with producer Martin Terefe (James Morrison / KT Tunstall) - “It was an amazing experience recording songs live, perhaps in one take, with a band all facing each other and getting a real performance out of it,” he says – before reuniting with the man who produced his breakthrough album, Back To Bedlam - Tom Rothrock.

“Tom and I locked ourselves away in a studio in Los Angeles and recorded what I supposed we did with the first album; which was an indie album before You’re Beautiful took it on a dirty journey into the mainstream,” he explains. “We recorded it without a record label in mind, without a music chart in mind, and without too much of an audience in mind we recorded Moon Landing.

“I wrote my last couple of albums with an audience in mind,” he adds. “And instead this time round, rather than thinking about what you guys might want to hear, I wrote songs about what I needed to say. And what it does from here, is up to you!”
 
You can watch the full interview below: