James Arthur

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James Arthur is poised to share a completely new side of himself, having undergone a journey of personal
growth and self-acceptance that has led to some of his best music to date. The Bri?sh star’s remarkable
sixth album, Pisces, comes hot on the heels of 2024’s chart-topping BiGer Sweet Love, which was
supported by a sold-out arena tour in the UK and Ireland. It’s a work with human connec?on at its heart,
influenced by the Brit Award-nominated ar?st’s experiences as a father, a partner and a friend, melding
influences spanning pop, rock, Americana and indie.
The album’s ?tle, Pisces, speaks to his intui?ve, empathe?c and mul?faceted nature, but also to the
dichotomous sound that permeates these songs. Fans will hear tracks that represent the push-and-pull of
his longing to be understood, piGed against his ins?nct to hide away from the world. Some are hushed
and introspec?ve, while others blaze with life: “I’ve always been a dreamer, quite sensi?ve,” he says.
“That crossover between dreams and reality was something that really spoke to me for this record.”
Take lead single “ADHD”, a s?rring ballad inspired by Arthur’s own diagnosis with the condi?on just last
year. “It explained a lot,” he says, “and since then I’ve started to grow a lot closer to the people in my life.
I’m geVng to know myself beGer, too.” The track unfolds with rich percussive twangs on the guitar, before
Arthur reminds listeners about the raw power of his voice on the emo?onal chorus: “Black heart that I
wear on my sleeve/ Old flames s?ll messaging me/ Between that and the ADHD/ You should run a mile.”
“I had to lay out all of my flaws in order to be able to move on,” Arthur says. “For a long ?me, I didn’t
know how to celebrate the wins – I was looking for valida?on in the wrong places, wondering why I
hadn’t been given my flowers a[er coming from nothing, and puVng everything I had into this. But that
kind of aVtude is never going to serve you, it won’t help you grow.” Those familiar with Arthur’s journey
will know how he shot to fame a[er winning the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012, going on to release
hits such as “Say You Won’t Let Go” – to date one of the biggest-streamed singles of all ?me – and fan-
favourite ballads like “Train Wreck” and “Naked”.
They’re likely less familiar with what took place before then. Arthur touches on his difficult upbringing on
“Celebrate”, a heart-rending and ambi?ous anthem that tussles between the past and the future. “I’ve
come a long way from nowhere,” he tells himself. “I’ve given up on friends of mine/ Cos when I needed
friends they weren’t there/ A phone call could’ve saved my life… I don’t wanna hate myself no more.”
There are whispers of an electric guitar that play out like flashes of lightning on the edge of a storm. A far-
away voice calls out as Arthur asks, “Can anybody hear me? Can anybody help?”
Meanwhile, on album opener “Summer”, which unfurls slowly with so[ strums of guitar and Arthur sings
in a low murmur: “I’ve always been an arsonist/ It’s always been my party trick/ For warming up the
darkness in my veins.” Then his voice li[s to a vocodered falseGo, redolent of the sepia-toned warmth of
Bon Iver. Suddenly, the track explodes into life with thrashing riffs and thunderous drum beats, as full of
vitality as the July sun.
“I knew I’d have a more posi?ve outlook on life if I was able to let go of the past,” Arthur says. “It felt like
the perfect introduc?on to the album, giving listeners an insight into how I see things some?mes. It feels
very posi?ve, like new beginnings.”
Arthur didn’t always feel this way. Around the beginning of 2024, he found himself suffering from a series
of health issues and feeling burnt out by a relentless touring schedule. “It was a down period for me,
basically,” he says. “I was feeling burnt out and sorry for myself… but that was the catalyst for geVng me
into the studio, trying to express myself.”
He invited his regular collaborator, producer and songwriter Steven Solomon (Perrie, Dean Lewis, Dermot
Kennedy) to his home studio, where there was no gameplan, just a desire to create music that moved
them. “I guess I wanted it to be different from my earlier projects,” Arthur suggests. “I think a lot of
people have come to expect these big emo?onal ballads, the raspy vocals… this album shows a different
side to me. It’s the most personal one I’ve done, for sure.”
The theme of growth courses swi[ and strong through the veins of the record. Arthur has found himself
inspired by fatherhood, a[er the birth of his daughter, Emily, in 2022. “When I get in the studio now,
there’s this added mo?va?on to create something I’m really proud of, and that hopefully one day she can
be proud of as well,” he says.
So he flexes his crea?ve muscles on “Cruel”, an imagined love leGer to someone who’s been placed on a
pedestal in the past. Over so[ acous?c strumming, he sings in a sweetly lil?ng croon before a brass
sec?on smartly interpolates Abba’s “Dancing Queen”. There’s a woozy sax line on rap interlude “Gucci”,
which recalls Mercury Prize-winner Loyle Carner’s introspec?ve hip-hop. On “Friends”, too, Arthur
demonstrates his emo?onal acuity as he pays tribute to late actor MaGhew Perry.
“Like a lot of Friends fans, I was basically raised by those characters, so his death was just very sad, and
made me think about how this keeps happening,” Arthur says. “I’ve been in a place where that could have
been me, so the news of his passing impacted me a lot.” Amid the buzz of TV sta?c, he riffs on the famous
theme song, singing: “So when the rain starts to pour, I’ll be thinking about you/ So no one told you life
would ever be this way…Why was no one there for you?” The song is made even more per?nent in the
wake of Arthur’s fellow X Factor alumnus, Liam Payne, who tragically died aged 31 in October 2024.
“I remember when I came off X Factor and I was going through a dark patch, and Liam heard about it
through a mutual friend,” Arthur recalls. “He asked our mate if he could speak with me, and he felt like
he’d been through something similar. It always stuck with me that he did that.”
That ques?oning of what might have been con?nues on “Embers”, a soulful, pared-back track that
reminisces about “all the simple dreams that we always talked about”. Meanwhile, “All My Love” has all
the sweeping cinema?c romance of a Bruce Springsteen number, racing along a propulsive beat as a
jangling guitar hook plays out. The ?tle of “Karaoke” is almost a red herring, as it powers through a
grunge-indebted guitar line, while Arthur reaches out to a partner dealing with the trauma of a past
rela?onship. He sings the chorus like a mantra: “I want you dancing on the table, want you making a
scene/ I want you ac?ng like a nightmare while you look like a dream.”
In the past, some cri?cs have rushed to dismiss Arthur as a one-trick pony, perhaps blinkered by the
ballads that have racked up hundreds of millions of streams and countless radio plays that, in 2024, saw
him become one of a rare group of ar?sts to win the Brits Billion award. He throws down the gauntlet on
“Yeah, No”, a thrilling, breathless rock number, before diving into the depths of “Water”, another
curveball that sees him switch from a sultry rock croon into an emo?onally wrought cry. On “Hallelujah”,
he tussles with ques?ons of faith that have grown louder since the birth of his daughter.
“Really, I just want to give my fans an insight into how I’ve been feeling over the years,” he says. “I think
it’s going to surprise a lot of people. This is me at my most vulnerable.”