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James Blunt finally admits the truth: 'You're Beautiful' is annoying

The track was 'force-fed down people's throats' in the early Noughties

Jess Denham
Tuesday 21 October 2014 06:12 EDT
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James Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam shot him to fame in 2004
James Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam shot him to fame in 2004 (Getty Images)

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James Blunt would like to apologise for creating his "annoying" love song "You're Beautiful" ten years ago.

The track, which featured on the singer-songwriter's 2004 bestselling debut album Back to Bedlam, topped charts in ten countries, shifted more than four million copies around the world, earned a Grammy nomination and won an Ivor Novello.

But Blunt has at last admitted that it was "force-fed down people's throats", leading music fans to think of him as an "insanely serious person" and get bored, damaging his reputation.

The accompanying music video for "You're Beautiful", in which Blunt appears sad, shirtless and shoeless in the snow, only made things worse.

"I have a couple of over-emotional miserable songs that I'm known for, but I think it's turned that corner now," he told Hello! magazine, adding that his music was first marketed to appeal to "women during Desperate Housewives commercials" when "dudes also love slow jams about lost loves and things being beautiful".

Blunt temporarily quit the music business in 2012 to "take more time for himself", stop writing songs and "chill out" in Ibiza, before returning to resume his career with last year's Moon Landing.

The 40-year-old former Harrow student and NATO soldier had come under fire for his "posh" upbringing and was widely mocked on social media.

Earlier this year, Blunt hit out at Blur's Damon Albarn for attempting to distance himself from his own background.

"I was just the only one who didn't hide my accent," he told The Sun. "I mean, come on, Damon Albarn, he's right up there. He's got an orchard full of plums in his mouth and a silver spoon stuck up his arse."

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