James Arthur reveals details of his 'miraculous comeback'
He joined us backstage at Hits Live Birmingham!
Last updated 8th May 2019
The super talented James Arthur joined us at Hits Live Birmingham on Saturday 4th May, performing some of his biggest hits among a line-up including Louis Tomlinson, Ellie Goulding, The Vamps, Lewis Capaldi, Zara Larsson, Tom Walker, Mabel and HRVY.
Superstar singer James shot to fame way back in 2012 when he was crowned the winner of The X Factor, but after being dropped from Simon Cowell's record label in 2014, James thought his career was over... that was until his 'miraculous comeback'.
Speaking to Hits Radio presenter Sarah-Jane Crawford backstage, James opened up about the 'craziest moment' in his life to date, revealing the moment Simon Cowell called him to re-sign him to Syco.
He said, "I always say when I made the miraculous comeback. I’ll never forget the day, it was two and a half years ago and I was like, I’m done, I’m on the scrapheap.
"That was September 2016 and I’m sitting there in my flat about to release this song and no labels in the UK would take it, I was blacklisted as I’d been a naughty boy."
Swipe through to see James Arthur's career timeline...
James then added, "I was lucky enough to have Columbia in Germany. It came out Say You Won’t Let Go and it flew to Number 1 at the time. I re-signed to Syco and they asked me to perform on The X Factor on the same day.
Revealing Simon then called him, James added, "He was very humble, he said, ‘Thank you very much for accepting us again, we made a mistake before, you’ve been A-listed on all the radio stations.' It felt like all my dreams have come true."
James later revealed to Sarah-Jane that having 'self belief' is the biggest lesson he's learnt from the expeirence. He said, "Having self-belief and not giving up. The power of your own belief system is unrivaled and the things you can achieve, but it really did happen for me. all of my visions manifested."
He also spoke out about his upcoming single, saying, "I’m sick of talking about myself! After 'Say You Won’t Let Go', the nature of that song was from my imagination. It wasn’t necessarily from my own life.
"I’ve made a conscious effort to make this album about other people’s stories and trying to get into the heads of other people. It feels like 'Say You Won’t Let Go', part two."
Of his new album, he said, "There’s a lot of material. I’m having to trim away a few. So, initially it started off being this experimental thing where I wanted to surprise people and come out with stuff that was outside the box. Or just wasn’t typically the stuff that you’d expect from me."
He added, "I got halfway through and the classic James Arthur songs were the ones that were getting the most reaction and I just thought, 'Well, let me make an album that is the best of what I do' and then we can thread the little bits of my other interests, my hip-hop influences, the other things that I wanna show of me into the best possible album."
The 31-year-old also opened up about working with other artists on the album, "I’ve spent two years writing. I did a load of stuff in America with some wicked producers and then I went back to basics and what I’m really good at, getting my acoustic guitar out.
"It was a bit of stress for me to get home and write by myself because when you’re signed to a major label, you have to do that obligatory tour of the most happening producers and co-writers at the time. You have to fulfill that obligation. I never truly enjoyed that process because I always did it by myself and I always find the best results come from me."
Don't miss out on the party, with all biggest hits from all your favourite artists in November. Hits Live will be in Liverpool on Friday 15th November, Birmingham on 16th November and Manchester on Sunday 17th November - get your Early Bird tickets NOW!