James Arthur was a small town boy from Middlesbrough, England before skyrocketing to fame on the ninth season of the British X-Factor series. The 28-year-old singer stopped by the studio to talk to Maxwell about his instantaneous pop stardom, revealing that he only auditioned for the singing competition because his mom told him she'd pay his electricity bill. Despite his initial hesitancy, Arthur went on to become both a fan and judge favorite in The UK X Factor's 12th season..
After a few years out of the spotlight, Arthur is back with his sophomore album Back from the Edge. He released it's lead single "Say You Won't Let Go" in September, and it's become a smash success. It stayed number one on the UK Singles Chart for three consecutive weeks and now it's taking over stateside. Just this month, "Say You Won't Let Go" became Arthur's first song to land on the Billboard charts in the United States.
"Say You Won't Let Go" is reminiscent of another song that put a small town English singer-songwriter on the global pop music map. (We're talking about Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud," of course.) When asked how it felt that his song was sure to be ***the*** wedding song of the year, Arthur said "that would be a blessing." "Say You Won't Let Go" is the real blessing, TBH.
If you're dying for more James Arthur, his new single "Safe Inside" is also out now. Or, you know, just get the whole Back from the Edge album. It's that good. You seriously won't be able to let go. (See what we did there!) - Emily Lee