All right, Jay here.

We are hanging out at the Young Hollywood Studio with James Blunt.

Hey. So, why do you take so long between albums, man? It's been a couple years. We've all been waiting.

Yeah, a couple of years but I toured around the world for two years. Um on the All the Lost Souls world tour and then I locked myself in a studio for just over a year. So, that's that's the three years covered.

I like that. You locked yourself in the studio. So, it's been pretty intense what you've been doing.

It's been nice to released to get out and see some normal people but the result, I'm over the moon with it. It's this album called Some Kind of Trouble and uh and yeah, we love it.

Your travel schedule always amazes me because you're doing the album in London but you're living in Ibiza of all places. Not a place that you hear every day that people are going to, but you love it, you've been going.

Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. You should definitely come on down. It's, you know, it's a big Spanish um party island. And uh and yeah, it's kind of, you know, it's a madhouse.

Now, it's known for its dance music there. Does that mean that's something maybe we're going to see in the future of James Blunt?

Well, you know, I'm I've been out a lot there and you know, picking out the well of inspiration. And you can see this album is much more upbeat and energetic. I suppose because instead of being the troubadour with an acoustic guitar, instead, I've gone back to where I started which was the electric guitar. Um and I've written on the base, you know, with the drums and the rhythm in mind. My problem is I joined the army and then you know I couldn't really travel with an electric and an amplifier. There was nowhere to plug in my amp in my tank. And so uh so yeah, so I was on the acoustic for a long time, but now I'm back on the electric and it's really fun just to have that kind of that naive energy to it.

So, take me through the process. Do you going into it say, okay, I'm going to make this more up tempo or just sort of happens, you get in the studio not knowing what's going to happen?

Yeah, I didn't really know what it was going to do. I just knew I didn't want to do the same thing as I'd done before. I didn't want to repeat myself that would be boring. And so I wanted to, you know, find something that that's had a little bit of excitement and innocence to it. And I walked into the studio one day, met this guy called Steve Robson. We were supposed to go for a beer, but instead I picked up an electric and uh and I wrote a song called Dangerous. And it sounded naive and young and kind of like a teenager with a first um electric. And I said come on, you know, I'm going to come in and record this tomorrow. And and I did. And that sounded good. And those days turn into weeks, turn into months. And you know, a year later I walked out of that's out of that same room with with Some Kind of Trouble as an album.

How did Ryan Tedder get involved in some stuff? How did that happen?

Yeah, yeah. I bumped into Ryan Tedder out here. Um actually, in California and uh and we hit it off. Pulled out our guitars. Steve was here as well. Bob Marley also wrote on the song, which is interesting because I thought he was dead. And uh and no, and the result, you know, is a kind of California influenced um upbeat song called Stay the Night and it's about hanging having fun with your friends and not wanting the night to end.

And what are some things you haven't done yet? I mean, you've you've done a lot in your life and in your career. What's something you've always wanted to do, but you haven't had a chance to yet.

You know, I went, I'm uh obviously I get asked a lot about whether I should go into acting. And I did go on a TV show once which was filmed in uh Albuquerque. And after my one airing screening um they then uh pulled the plug on that show and it went under. So, that's a pretty good indication that I should just No more acting in the near future. Stick to what I'm doing.

Stick to the music, right? You know, you travel a lot so you're always seeing like hot places to go. Hot new trends that might be in Europe before they're out here. Just what are some cool things you've seen out there?

Um well, you know, one of the most amazing cities in the world would be Rio de Janeiro um and uh and if you want to, you know, watch a movie about it, watch City of God. And then one of the most incredible places in the world. I toured, you know, and I literally toured probably around the world and elsewhere. And the most incredible was Beirut in Lebanon which you'd expect to be, you know, a scary place. And it's got the scars of war, you know, the bullet holes in the walls. But it's the mixture of Arab and Christian and Jew, the French influence. And uh yeah, and the most amazing concert I've ever played in my life.

What would you say is the biggest misconception of James Blunt? Things you just hear that you're like, that's just not what James is all about.

I suppose people listen to my music a lot and think maybe I'm a girl.

I love it. And on that note, James Blunt, new album, make sure you go check it out. Cheers.