Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Why James Blunt Declined Working with Kanye West!

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

James Blunt is back with a book and a brand new song and we talk about his crazy life!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now James Blunt, he's very funny, he's also a mega pop superstar, you'll know him from such huge hits as this. Beautiful, and he's got a brand new album out Friday, it's called Who We Used To Be, and you would have heard the first single from it, Beside You. And he joins us right now over Zoom, James Blunt. Good morning, how's life? Yeah, life's not too bad. You know, I'm still in with a job, still in with a gig. In the press release, we got sent through. It said James Blunt has become something of an English treasure. You know, I get to write my own biographies nowadays, so I can say what I like. You are a treasure. How have you been, though?

Yeah, I've been having a blast, you know, really. I've got a ton going on. I've got this album that's coming out i've got a book coming out the book's gonna get me cancelled i've just been with like you know they say that everyone has one book in them well mine i should have kept inside me disaster and there's i'm just struggling today because a guardian journalist just read it and he said he called me he normally writes terrible reviews about me and he called me and said i really love this book it's amazing but you're going to get canceled what is the most cancelable story you've got in your book all kinds of stuff i mean what are you supposed to do as a musician you're supposed to sex drugs and rock and roll except i do them at the bottom

you got this new album uh who we Used To Be, out October 27th. The first single beside you. Now, it's a feel-good anthem, a bit of an upbeat banger. Now, I know you like living in Ibiza. You like going to the clubs. Would you dance along to this song if it was played in the club? Well, you know, I have two left feet, so I probably shouldn't. But, yeah, you know, I live in Ibiza.

I have a nightclub at the end of my garden. Obviously, the music is rubbing off on me. You know, I like dance music. And the song's a celebration, you know, so that's why it's such a feel-good song. Is it hard living in a party town like Ibiza? No, it's really, actually, I don't really remember much of it. But, you know, I'm told it's great. No, it's an awesome place.

You know, I spend much of my time on tour. I live on a tour bus. And then when I get a couple of weeks off, if I go home might as well go home to a to where i'm also going to have a holiday so that's why i live in a holiday destination good on you see you got a nightclub at the end of your garden yeah it's got i've got a big neon sign it says blunty's nightclub where everybody's beautiful that is beautiful you've led an amazing life and it sounds like even more amazing than we know because it's all going to be in a book. It's our little book.

Paul McCartney, Elton John are big fans of your work, and even Kanye West. And he asked if you could work together. He called you up, and you didn't call him back. Same day that Tom Cruise sent me flowers was when Kanye called me and asked if we could work together. And I was just so confused as to why he would want to work with me. And I was in a hotel. I took down his number, like, you know, Kanye,

how do you spell that? And then I just couldn't understand why on earth he would want to work with me. So I never called back. And I really wish I had, because maybe otherwise I'd be playing in stadiums rather than arenas. So you've just left Kanye's number just sitting on a piece of paper in a hotel room? Yes. Literally, absolutely yes.

Well, to continue to name drop, Leonardo DiCaprio, you're in a business venture with him, same company you've invested in, and it was recommended to you by a princess, Princess Eugenie. Is that true? Yeah, you know, he and I have a lot in common.

We share girlfriends um you know for that reason obviously the same taste in in in that line we we thought we should you know go for the same line in shoes as well and is it vegan shoes vegan shoes just in case you're hungry uh then you can eat your shoe and he's got no meat in it too so do you discuss business decisions with leo You're having Zooms? You're taking the minutes and stuff like that, the meetings or what? You know, I'm more stylistic than him,

whereas he's more the conscientious environmentalist. Because we did hear a rumor too that you sometimes go on and change your age too on Wikipedia. It's true. You know, you can edit your own page on Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it, particularly my age, because, you know, I'm approaching 40 and so I take a few years off. And annoyingly, my mother, you know, she's got a bee in her bonnet about the whole thing. I don't think she knows it's me who changes it, but she gets this alert when my page has been changed. She goes and changes it back because you love you love dancing and nightclubs you've got this new single that is upbeat and sort of you know is a bit of a dance uh you know a dancey

do you find that your beautiful kind of typecast you in a lot of people's minds uh uh yeah i guess do you know what for a long time i really wanted to be a rock star um and i wanted to be in a band but as i say no one would have be in a band but as I say no one would have me in a band so I just end up on my own with a guitar writing miserable songs saying poor old me you know I did I I do and I have written a lot of you know miserable miserable songs misery cells and I and I'm and I'm happy for that I'm still in that trade as well I know where my bread is buttered oh Oh, that's awesome, James. But we love catching up with you.

It's so good to have your music back in the world. Who We Used To Be, it's out October 27th. And hopefully we see you one day in New Zealand. Stuff it. Don't get the album. Get the book instead. Oh, yeah. Sounds like I can't wait for the book.

Jeez. See you, mate. So good to talk to you guys. Take care.