James Blunt performs at American Airlines Arena on August 30, 2017 in Miami, Florida.
Jason Koerner | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
British singer-songwriter and “reluctant” Twitter sensation James Blunt told CNBC that social media platforms need to do more to moderate online hate.
The superstar behind global hits like “You’re Beautiful” and “Goodbye My Lover” has been called out for his sharp portrayal of trolls on his Twitter feed, leading to the publication of a book of his tweets on in 2020, titled “How to Be Whole and Completely Open: Diary of a Reluctant Social Media Sensation.”
Blunt was speaking in Dubai in late January ahead of his best-selling album tour, The Stars Beneath My Feet (2004-2021).
“I think social media platforms should moderate. You know I have a website and we moderate that website so people aren’t just mean and nasty to other people who come on there to learn, you know, or talk or discuss what that platform is about, my music,” Blunt said on the latest episode of “The CNBC Conversation.”
“Twitter has its own platform so people can discuss all kinds of things, but I think it would probably be worth moderating that, and I know they do to some extent.”
Internet pressures
Blunt told CNBC that it “must be incredibly difficult” for young people and parents to navigate the pressures of being on social media today.
He said his answer is not to take it seriously.
“I don’t respond in the heat of the moment. I respond without emotion, with a smile, without caring about it. And so if you’re ever upset, you know, take a moment and take a step back before you get to yourself. in some kind of meaningless debate with a complete stranger,” he said.
The singer also told CNBC that the pandemic had been a time for musicians to take a back seat and for essential workers to be celebrated.
“The pandemic was quite healthy in many ways, because where we celebrated musicians and actors for a long time, we were called celebrities, we were devalued through a pandemic and more important people, doctors, nurses, teachers, supermarket workers, truck drivers. and the farmers were designated as indispensable, and so we were put out to pasture for a few years,” he said.
Prior to the release of his debut single “High” in 2004, Blunt served as a scout soldier in the British Army’s Household Cavalry Guards regiment and deployed with NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War.
“It was a real moment in my life that changed the way I looked at people to realize how uncomfortable we can be as a group. But I took some heart from meeting individuals on both sides who were incredibly wonderful human beings,” Blunt said.
“And it kind of taught me that no matter what side of an argument you’re on, the other person on the other side probably has a good reason for their argument, too, and the truth and the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.”
Changes in the music industry
He told CNBC that he had been “incredibly lucky” early in his career to sign with a record label that gave him the space and time to create “the album of my dreams.”
Blunt’s 2004 debut album Back to Bedlam has continued to chart in the UK’s top 20 best-selling albums of all time.
When asked how she’s navigated disruptions in the music industry, from streaming to social media, Blunt said she sees them as opportunities.
“To begin with, when the broadcast came out, I think the record labels saw it as something to fight for and that was completely wrong on their part, it was something to be excited about,” he said.
“I can get my songs out there so easily now and that’s really exciting. You know, with other social media platforms, I can get my voice out without having to go through a publicist or a record company. I can get my voice heard through Twitter, I can just hold my phone and sing it on Tik Tok. And surprisingly, you know, there seems to be an audience there.”
Blunt, who also owns The Fox & Pheasant pub in London and recently hosted the Beer Masters series on Amazon Prime Video, told CNBC that he had learned not to chase a hit.
“When you’re in the business, it’s something that we sometimes get lost in, you know, you’re often thinking about how to get a song to radio, what’s a song, what’s my record company going to pick up as a single, and what’s going to appeal to me many radio representatives”, he said.
“And actually, I’ve realized that’s not the way to go, the audience doesn’t care about that. The audience wants to hear songs from your heart that are real, that really mean something. So instead of try to follow a hit, you just have to, you know, find it deep within yourself.”
When asked for advice, Blunt said: “I feel very strongly that you have to follow that dream and you have to go for it, because it would be terrible to get to an old age and say I had a dream but I didn’t have the courage to follow him”.
“But that dream also needs to be put into … a realistic picture of what that dream is, and I think the pursuit shouldn’t be fame and fortune, the pursuit should be happiness,” he said.
