The New Invasion Has Begun…
It happened sooner than I thought. But not in a good way. While The Subways impressively secured themselves a spot on the upcoming OC Mix (see Music From The OC: Mix 5), which is good for them, and for us if it leads to more exposure for the band stateside, there is trouble afoot elsewhere.
James Blunt is an artist I was going to warn you all about, who has blown up this year in the UK (in the first 9 months of the year alone he sold 1.27 million albums, second on the UK charts only to Coldplay), and is threatening to shit all over American airwaves as well. I downloaded his album after seeing that it had done so well in the UK just to see what all the fuss was about, and I now understand that while this isn’t wuite the worst thing to come out of the UK in the last ten years (see: Spice Girls), it’ll get pretty fucking irritating after his lead single, “You’re Beautiful” rapes your ears for the next 6 months everywhere you turn. You won’t even be safe in movie theaters for the next year, as Blunt has licensed that song to SIX different upcoming films.
Blunt frequently sings about his marijuana use in his songs (”She could tell by my face that I was fucking high…” from “You’re Beautiful” and “when [the wisemen] came down from heaven and smoked 9 to 7, all the shit that they could find…” from “Wisemen”), but don’t let his desperate attempts at counter-culture (he actually changed his name to James Blunt from his birth name, James Blount) fool you, he’s still as mainstream as it gets.
For a while I took solace in the fact that UK superstars frequently do not catch on in the US (see: Robbie Williams), but my worst fears were confirmed on Sunday. As I shopped on what appeared to be a normal Sunday evening at Harris Teeter’s, the nearest super market to UVA, suddenly over the store audio system came Blunt’s shrill whine, “My life is brilliant…” (the opening line of “You’re Beautiful”) and I new his invasion had begun. If you feel like knowing what the next big thing to dominate the radio and assault your ears at every turn is, download two songs from him below.
PS - Is it just me or does Blunt blatantly rip off the chorus from “Tiny Dancer” on “Wisemen”? Doesn’t it sound like he should throw “tiny dancer” in there after the “Look who’s alone now…” in the chorus.
UPDATE: I just saw his video for “You’re Beautiful” on MTV here. Oh god.
MP3s:
“You’re Beautiful” - James Blunt [not recommended]
“Wisemen” - James Blunt [not recommended]
I’m kind of ashamed to have wasted my bandwith on this guy, but it’s for your safety, so you can make sure to steer clear.