James Arthur’s new album ‘Bitter Sweet Love’ is inspired by a fresh mindset brought about after the singer became a first-time dad.
The Train Wreck hitmaker’s fifth album is due January 26 on Columbia, with the musician opening up about the creative process during an intimate album launch event in London on Wednesday (September 27).
Speaking during a Q&A session following an acoustic set, he shared of its themes: “I was on TikTok scrolling, as you do, and I saw one of these motivational videos that was talking about how pain is arguably the most fundamental thing that matters the most and the only thing more powerful than pain is love.
“I thought that was a cool concept, because anything I’ve ever made has been from pain and real trauma, shit like that, and that’s what inspired me to focus on love and make that the focal point.”
A big part of that comes from James’ newfound fatherhood, with the Say You Won’t Let Go singer welcoming his daughter Emily last November.
“I think when I tap into that feeling and that emotion, my daughter is very much at the forefront of my mind in a totally wholesome way,” he added, admitting: “My perspective changed when I became a dad; I think I’ve been on this quite selfish, self-indulgent pursuit for validation and recognition for my music. Like ‘Why don’t people give me my flowers?’ and all that kind of stuff.
“When you have a kid, you have a bit of an ego death and you think, ‘What are you doing?’,” he continued. “It’s silly to care so much about external things that don’t matter and people that don’t really care about you. So it’s been good for me, as someone who’s probably been on quite a kind of self-absorbed pursuit.”
Although he’s settled on a personal level as he gets to grips with being a dad, James is determined to keep pushing forward when it comes to his music, reflecting: “I have quite a self-deprecating mindset, sometimes, and when I look at [past successes] I worry about getting excited about it. I’m not really good at patting myself on the back. I immediately go, ‘Well, that’s old songs, that’s the catalogue doing its thing’, and that’s fantastic, but I think if I focussed too much on that, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning and be motivated to make new music.”
The Impossible singer smiled: “I still have lots of ambition to be on the radio and to be a voice that people care about and have new music popping off.”
