Rewriting the Stars

At first glance, James Arthur looks just like any other young British man one would find strolling down a London street but looks can be deceiving, as Arthur’s life story is anything but normal.

Born to a working-class family in Middlesbrough, Arthur “came from a very humble background, grew up with not much.” When he was around nine years old, he briefly got a taste of the middle-class lifestyle when he and his family moved to Bahrain, but unfortunately, it didn’t last, and he moved back to England a few years later – which was when trouble really started. “I got kicked out of the house a lot for misbehaving, ended up in foster care, lived on my own, and fended for myself,” he recalls. “I felt like no one was stepping up for me and looking after me. It came to the point where I didn’t have anywhere to go.” With the help of an organization in town on a somewhat permanent arrangement, he stayed in foster care half of the week. His younger self, he says, was a “troubled soul” living in a rough neighborhood and dealing with a tumultuous family life and a precarious living situation; music was one of the few refuges in his life. “I became obsessed with it,” he adds. “I wouldn’t even write a song, I would just wail and throw stuff at the wall, and occasionally, something would stick and I would be like, ‘This could be a song.’ There was no structure, there were no rules. I like the way I used to write back then because I didn’t give a sh*t about formulas.”

Despite the hardships that he endured throughout his adolescence, that time of his life also marked the beginning of his music career since he began writing and recording songs as an unsigned artist affiliated with a number of bands, mostly just to make ends meet. However, his big break came a few years later – in 2012, to be exact – when Arthur was suddenly presented with the opportunity to participate in the singing competition show, The X Factor. “I didn’t really want to do it,” he says. “One day, my lights went out. I begged my mom, ‘Please lend me a ten or a twenty,’ and she said, ‘Well, The X Factor is doing a mobile audition. If you go sing for The X Factor, then I’ll give you some money.’ So I went down there, stood in the back of the queue, and I actually left three times because I never thought that would be the path I’d take. I thought I’d make it being the front-runner of a rock band. But eventually, I got there, and I sang for them, and the rest is history.”

Arthur now acknowledges that his experience on The X Factor was “traumatic – you go from not having many expectations to performing live in front of 11 million people every Saturday night. Everyone’s talking about you. It’s quite a strange contrast. I was suffering badly with anxiety, as well, and having panic attacks, and I wasn’t enjoying it as much.” Then, halfway through the competition, something “kicked into gear” when he realized that he had an actual knack for pleasing those who heard him sing, from the judges to the entire British audience. Nearly three months after his audition, he left The X Factor as a winner. Shortly after, Arthur’s debut single, a cover of Shontelle’s “Impossible,” has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, and he has since maintained a steady presence with hits like “You’re Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You” and “Say You Won’t Let Go.”

In the midst of touring to support his latest album YOU, Arthur pauses, takes a moment, and reflects: “I’m a normal guy who just had a dream of being someone who performs songs that move people and inspire people. Where I came from gave me a thick skin, and I’m a typical British bloke, but I’m just a guy with a dream of making music that lasts and stands the test of time.”

Writer: Monica Dias

Photographer: Boris Brenman

Fashion Editor: Ty-Ron Mayes

Men’s Grooming: Marc Cornwall

Videographer: Becca Werntz

Editor: Eiko Watanabe

Special thanks to Just Salad (@justsalad - www.justsalad.com) & EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)