My mother likes James Blunt; millions of people do. Millions more can’t stand him. But prior to 2005, this UK singer languished in musical obscurity. Public school-educated, a respected ex-soldier and champion skier, he seemed an unlikely candidate for rock stardom. Then ‘You’re Beautiful’ became a worldwide chart-topper, the album Back to Bedlam a sleeper sensation, and Blunt himself the object of both gooey-eyed adoration and relentless lampooning. 

His über-ballads, good looks and tough guy/sensitive guy persona charmed the pants off lady listeners; simultaneously, his bourgeois background and mainstream stylings met derision from ‘real music’ fans everywhere. As our familiarity with his swooping vocals grew, so did ‘purist’ opinion that this girly-voiced warbler hijacked Route 1 to playlist payola. Dark imagery filled his videos, the ‘F’- word peppered his breakout hit, and he flirted (ill-advisedly) with celebrated lesbian Ellen DeGeneres. Yet however hard he tried to appear ‘edgy’, Blunt’s ‘nice boy’ image proved inescapable. ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic parodied his megahit as ‘You’re Pitiful’; Blunt’s name also entered rhyming slang’s lewd lexicon. On Sesame Street, he even mocked himself (prompting one online prankster to respond, ‘Sorry, but James Blunt is a muppet’). 

Blunt may be resigned to soft-target status. But in truth, beyond the cloying ubiquity of ‘You’re Beautiful’, Bedlam’s folk-pop made for a decent debut. ‘Goodbye My Lover’ was a genuinely touching tale of lost love, ‘High’ an infectious radio hit. 

Now, though, his detractors have a fresh batch of ammo in All the Lost Souls, a follow-up that’s at best politely tuneful, at worst crushingly conservative. Once catchy ‘1973’ sets the tone, the balladry barely lets up. Stripped of big production, those vocals dominate more than ever; on ‘Same Mistake’, he croons like a mildly anxious werewolf. Only the delicate piano refrain of ‘Shine On’ comes close to stirring the soul. 

But critics’ barbs won’t deter the mellowed-out midlifers singing along at the Indoor Stadium. To be Blunt, they don’t care; and with such vast popularity, it’s unlikely he does, either.

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