James Blunt Knows He’s a One-Hit Wonder. Why That Makes Him ‘So Happy’ (Exclusive)

Just before James Blunt sat down for a Zoom call with PEOPLE from his home in the Cotswolds, his wife, Sofia, drove over a pothole. Damage was done, roadside assistance was called for help. But for Blunt, whose 2004 hit “You’re Beautiful” brought him instant fame, then just as quickly brought backlash, such mundane encounters as those with the AAA man are never quite so mundane.

“He met me, and he said, ‘I just have to tell you that I don’t like your music, but I really like you,’” Blunt says. “And it was a really nice conversation. He said, ‘Different music is for different people,’ and that’s the joy of music. He said that his wife is a huge fan and they have a son who’s a huge fan. Out of his family, two out of three ain’t bad.”

For Blunt, 51, such rosy thinking is a way of life — one that’s helped him stay successful amid a rather unconventional career path. Though “You’re Beautiful” is certainly a polarizing number, the British singer-songwriter has amassed a successful catalog full of other songs, songs that help him fill venues around the world.

On June 12, he’ll kick off the North American leg of his Back to Bedlam 20th anniversary tour, which celebrates two decades of the album that launched him to fame. It’s also the album that contains “You’re Beautiful” — and while you’d be reasonable in thinking Blunt might have complicated feelings toward his biggest hit thanks to the at best unkind and at worst vitriolic criticism the song inspired in its heyday, that’s not the case.

“In the States, I am [a one-hit wonder]. You have to understand — I am so happy with that because, as I put on my social media profiles, one hit is all you need,” he says. “I’ve been called a one-hit wonder by people who are none-hit wonders. And so I’m thrilled with that.”

Though Blunt is decidedly more successful in his native U.K., having varying levels of success around the world has actually been “healthy” for him, as it puts things into perspective.

“The moment I think I might be a big shot in any way, you, as an American, can tell me, ‘No. You’re just a little one-hit wonder, James. Get back in your box.’ And that’s healthy,” he says.

Blunt released “You’re Beautiful” in 2005 as the third single off his debut album Back to Bedlam. He’d left the British Army in order to pursue a career in music, but struggled to get signed, as his posh accent was a turn-off to labels who felt it rendered him stuffy and unrelatable.

He was playing a small gig at South by Southwest in 2003 when Linda Perry dropped by. Perry, of 4 Non Blondes fame, had just launched Custard Records, and was looking to sign her first artist.

“I hadn’t really understood how this was the very last chance I was probably ever going to have,” Blunt recalls. “I’d been rejected by every U.K. label based on my speaking voice and the kind of class issues that we have here, and the basis that they would think that just no one would relate to me. They might’ve been right to a degree. It’s taken a long time after ‘You’re Beautiful’ and the backlash for the public to know that, ‘Okay. I might speak with a stupid voice, but I am a normal, grounded human being.’ So maybe the U.K. labels were right. [But] for some reason Linda was there. She came in with a hard sell, and we went out that night and got drunk.”

By the time “You’re Beautiful” wedged its way into the brain of listeners around the world, Blunt had become something of a pop culture pariah; he admits the song was overplayed on the radio and that his personality was likely misunderstood in interviews at the time. (Despite the backlash it was still immensely successful, topping the charts in more than five countries and earning Blunt three Grammy nominations).

“I think I’ve always been silly,” says Blunt, who now shows off his self-deprecating humor on his popular X account. “I think I probably did set out in interviews when we were talking about music because it was the one thing I was serious about. I probably then spoke quite earnestly in my interviews about the music, and now I’ve learned that that’s probably not the best thing to do. So now, I still take my music seriously. I don’t speak earnestly about it.”

Regardless, he’s earnest now, as he effusively expresses his love for the song that made him famous.

“I love that song. I’m so glad to have written that song,” he says. “I’m in a beautiful house right now as a result of that. You and I are talking as a result of that. For me, it’s the song that I will always be known [for]. I will never beat that song.”

Commercially, he means. Emotionally, Blunt feels he’s surpassed his most famous song on multiple occasions, like his 2019 song “Monsters,” which was written for his father Charles after he was diagnosed with stage four chronic kidney disease (His dad is now doing well after a kidney transplant in 2020).

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Then there are the songs he’s written for his wife, Sofia, and their two young sons, like “The Girl That Never Was,” about a pregnancy loss, and “The Greatest.” When it comes to speaking publicly about his personal life, Blunt admits he’s “pretty reserved” — and would rather let his music do the talking.

“The songs mean everything to me. They’re my form of expression, the things that I cannot say openly, the things that I want to say to my wife, some of them good and some of them bad, about the things that I don’t say face-to-face,” he explains. “Or the things that, as a father, you don’t get to say to a child face-to-face because they wouldn’t understand what the hell you’re on about.”

He continues, “Some things I can spell out pretty clearly. Obviously, life has changed from being a single man with a band, touring the world as single men and positively living the dream. Your priorities change when you meet someone, and it’s a different beast. Our touring is a different beast. We are more grown up. It changes what are your priorities, in a good way.”

Family may come first, but Blunt — who in 2023 released the documentary One Brit Wonder — is still keen to put on a good show. The anniversary tour, which he recently took to Europe and the U.K., features him playing Back to Bedlam in its entirety before delving into other hits like “1973” and “Bonfire Heart.”

“I’m playing in arenas of 10 to 15,000 people. To those people every night, if I were to then start taking into [account] the fact that the one guy who picked me up didn’t like my music, the perspective is there are tens of thousands who I need to give the genuine respect that they’ve spent their money and queued and traveled and booked hotels,” he says. “I f—— love it. I’ve had and am having the time of my life.”