PISCES is an album that shows a new side to James Arthur.
It comes after a journey of self-growth, following a series of personal struggles for the singer who won The X Factor in 2012.
Arthur says: "Coming to a place of acceptance has been powerful for me. It means I'm in a place where I'm in touch with my feelings.
"And musically, I'm in a space where I wanted to try some different sorts of sounds.
"I've learned that living in the moment is the ultimate key to not having problems, because there's things that we can't control."
We are chatting at a studio where Arthur, who was born in Middlesbrough and grew up in Redcar, has an afternoon of photo-shoots for the album.
He tells me: "When I'm not at work I'm with my daughter [two-year-old Emily] and this morning we went down the slide about 150 times, but now it's back to work."
Arthur's ease with himself comes from dealing with his mental health over the past few years.
He says: "I accept that I've got depression and ADHD and that I can be an anxious person.
"I've been through some stuff. I have CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], which feels like maintenance. I have done bits of trauma therapy but, for me, delving so much into all that stuff can almost set you back.
"When things get on top of me I speak to my CBT therapist, which is vital for me.
"If I didn't have this I would struggle massively to find a balance in my life because I have so many responsibilities.
"I'm a business, but I'm also a dad, so I am responsible for a lot of people.
"I used to have panic attacks multiple times a day and had paramedics on speed dial — they were a huge part of my life for a few years.
'Back your own taste'
"But learning rational thinking techniques and having a game plan and a strategy has helped me live in the moment and realise there's things that we can't control."
It's just over a year since Arthur enjoyed his second No1 album with Bitter Sweet Love, but the singer, who turns 37 on Sunday, was keen to make its follow-up.
He says: "With the last two albums I feel like I've really found myself. I've just got to a place where I am comfortable with who I am. I'm coming up to 37, and I've been at this since I was young, like 13 or 14.
"And it takes a long time to find trust in yourself as an artist and back your own taste.
"I've always known who I am as an artist and had an identity and I haven't let people mould me too much, but you evolve as an artist and know what you want.
"Now I have the experience to know how to make the music I want to make and so I feel like my music has got more refined."
He adds that Pisces is the perfect title and theme for his new album because "Pisces people are typically stuck between dreams and reality".
He continues: "It felt like the right umbrella for the record because I've always resonated with the characteristics of my star sign."
Arthur has taken inspiration from bands Nirvana and Bon Iver, although his hero is Canadian singer Bryan Adams, who he recently supported.
He says: "The first tape I ever bought was Bryan Adams, so it's been pretty cool to play with him.
"I'm quite into all music. I make pop music but you can probably hear I've got quite an eclectic taste. I grew up listening to pop music on my mum's side and my dad was a huge metal head.
"I love Nirvana and I started out in alternative bands."
On Pisces, Arthur has opened up more than ever — and he says it was an important part of making the record.
"The only parameters for the record were that I had to personally feel moved by the songs," he explains.
"I have improved lyrically and I think these lyrics are the best I've written.
"Getting to a point where I was vulnerable enough to make stuff was how we started.
"I went through quite a bit of s**t in the middle part of my life, but in recent years, since the birth of my daughter, I feel I've been given a second chance on things and I've been in touch with my spirituality without realising. That's what the song Hallelujah is about.
"I felt like we had loads of these songs in us, and I got deep on the lyrics."
'In the flow'
Arthur also credits working with producer and regular collaborator Steven Solomon, as he feels so comfortable with him.
He says: "I'd just done an album with Steve and so we just kind of carried on because we were in the flow.
"Usually, when you go and do the rounds, there's a process of who you gel with.
"I've made songs with the big hitmakers and I really wanted to scratch the itch of making a proper album with one person or one team.
"Doing that with Steve for the last two albums has really improved me as an artist, and as a writer, because it's not about going into the studio and all writing a hit song. You're working towards a project.
"At no point was it about trying to find the lead single. It was just, let's make this album."
As it happens, ADHD, which became the lead single, is a belter — a deeply personal and introspective song.
Arthur says: "I pretty much wrote this whole album and then wrote a couple in the summer — ADHD being one of them.
"Getting a diagnosis taught me a lot about why I struggled to fit in or felt unlovable at times. There is a lot for me to get past. It allows you to feel more understood. For me, my lack of attention — I am quite scatty — had been a problem.
"All my relationships got better with everyone in my life from this diagnosis so it was good.
"I've always felt daily that I have a mountain to climb. It's part of being a neurodivergent person."
Track Celebrate, one of the standouts on Pisces, deals with juggling the past with the future.
Arthur explains: "This whole album I tried to dig in as much as possible. And Celebrate talks about how, at times, I've felt desensitised and have not been able to celebrate the good times — whether it's because I'm always looking ahead, or I'm just struggling to live in the moment."
But the songs Arthur is most excited about are Cruel and Friends.
'Career suicide'
Downbeat ballad Cruel shows off Arthur's emotive voice and was inspired by friends who had experienced relationship abuse.
He says: "I've had friends who have suffered at the hands of domestic violence when their partners told them they weren't pretty, that they're too much, that they speak too much.
"I hear women say things that they've been told by a man. I wanted to write a love letter to people who have been through some form of abuse.
"I've got four sisters and I don't like seeing women being controlled by men. So that's why that song means a lot to me and was something I wanted to write about."
With both Cruel and Friends, Arthur says he was inspired by hearing Billie Eilish talk about writing for the Barbie movie and writing about somebody else's life, then realising it was actually about her.
He adds: "The song Friends is about the late actor Matthew Perry who played Chandler Bing on the sitcom.
"When he died I was upset as I loved those characters. It made me think about how this keeps happening. I've been in a place where that could have been me."
Arthur says that when he was struggling with fame, it was Liam Payne, another X Factor graduate — who died aged 31 in October 2024 — who helped him.
The singer recalls: "Liam Payne heard I was struggling post X Factor. He was a good guy, we had a mutual friend and he came to an event and spoke to me.
"He let me know that he'd been through the same sort of thing, dealing with going from obscurity to being famous.
"I didn't know Liam too well but he was always so friendly and came to say hello and chat. He cared about people, their mental health and well-being."
Arthur's mental health has also improved now he is dealing with social media in a more positive way than he did at the start of his career.
"It's so much healthier," he says. "There was a time when I used to read a lot of negative stuff and would fire back.
"I literally committed career suicide. I went at One Direction, I said things that were interpreted negatively and got me cancelled.
"But it was me just trying to push away the cacophony of noise that was going on.
"I'd been this kid in foster care, then learning life lessons in the spotlight. Social media has been a rollercoaster for me. But I'm better dealing with it today.
"And I think it's good how Chappell Roan has created a conversation by speaking out about the difficulties that fame brings.
"We have to respect people's boundaries. I've faced that challenge myself where I was almost public property because I was voted to be here.
"But I'm a human being and even though I've given up parts of my life for this — don't ever think I'm not super grateful as I am — but now I've been doing it for a long time, I'm much more comfortable in my skin nowadays."
- Album Pisces is out on March 21
Post a Comment