Squeezy marmite, free jeans, ice machines – these are a few of James Blunt's favourite things. Whether you know Blunt via his decades-long music career, his A+ political trolling on Twitter/X, or his semi-fictional non-memoir, chances are you've unintentionally heard plenty about him. What you might not know about James Blunt, however, is what his home life is like.
From the takeout-only space of his kitchen to the buzz of the neon light in his bedroom, James Blunt's off-duty life is somehow more exuberant than you might have expected – not forgetting the nightclub at the bottom of his garden, of course. Among this chaos, nevertheless, are some of the tidiest cupboards Marie Kondo has ever dreamt of. He might be hungover in the mornings, but by God will his shirts be perfectly spaced.
But how does this skinny jeans-clad contradiction do it all? Having just moved into his new, serious family home, Blunt finds time to sit down with British GQ one crisp morning to talk us through the details of his hectic daily life…
How are you?
I'm good! Everything's in boxes right now, but I'm okay. I'm a bit of a nomad, really, so I don't mind. I live in Ibiza in the summer and in a Swiss ski resort in the winter, but yes, back to London in the colder months which suits me. That's when we all sort of do work, isn't it?
When you are allowed time off, what does that look like?
I'm pretty hyperactive. I don't really sit still. Always trying to organise something or make something. I own a pub in London, the Fox and Pheasant in Chelsea, and I enjoy that because it brings people together, and Ibiza is a very sociable place. I'm a very sociable beast. If people say they don't know what to do tonight I'm like, 'fuck, I own a pub, let's go there'.
What about your home life – what are your kitchen essentials? Do you cook a lot?
I'm really good at cooking a sandwich… or I can cook a bowl of cereal. That's sort of my forte. I can do toast, that's great. Oh, Marmite is an essential. Some mad people have vitamin B-12 injections for the throat, but Marmite is just pure B-12. In fact, sometimes I just have some squeezy Marmite by the side of the stage. Once the lights went down between songs and I hastily squeezed some Marmite over my mouth, the lights came back on and no one knew what had happened. Just had brown stuff all over my mouth. Wow, that's quirky.
I love a pizza or a curry, but the kitchen's vital area, for me, is the ice machine. That's what you need to make a good drink. Other than that, I do know how to turn the oven on. And off. I've got the technical side down. I have the skills.
How about the bathroom, what's your grooming routine like?
I really like soap. I think it's a fantastic invention. Really contemporary. I like anything without a plastic wrapper, totally progressive. I also think it's more conducive to washing your face, soap. Shower gel shouldn't go on the face. But soap? Big fan. As for grooming, I'm not much of a groomer. If you're solo, you shower. If you're with friends, have a bath. That's how I feel about that.
You've spent some time in the military. Are there any practices from that that have influenced your home life?
A tidy house is a happy house. I think that's why I don't like cooking, it makes a mess. I like a fridge to be structured, I like to know what's on every shelf. My bedroom cupboards are immaculate; socks are perfectly rolled up. I make my bed and I measure the fold I make from the bed head to the pillow. It's all immaculate and ironed. Even the shirts in my cupboards are spaced about an inch apart. Honestly, it's worth showing people. A tidy tour bus is also a happy tour bus. It's actually really bothering me that I can see on the Zoom that not all of your framed pictures are right, it's bugging me. If you need me to, I can come around with a spirit level any time.
Tell me more about your wardrobe, where are those perfectly-spaced items from?
Honestly, any brand that sends me freebies I'm incredibly loyal to. Ralph Lauren sent me these nice jeans so as far as this conversation goes, I only ever wear Ralph Lauren. I'm a musician so they're always skinny, no matter how big we might get. You know, I'm so lucky, I don't think about clothes very much. Any time I have a new album and we do a photo shoot and press shots I honestly just live off of the clothes that they get for me until I inevitably do another album.
I know they always get me AllSaints T-shirts, and as far as touring goes I'll always travel with four AllSaints T-shirts, a pair of jeans, seven pairs of socks, and away I go. As far as luggage, I've had a Tumi bag for the last fifteen years, it's guaranteed for life and the wheels still go round. As a single man I was doing 260 concerts a year so I'm very practiced at living out of a suitcase, and my Tumi suitcase has done me well.
One thing actually, I absolutely love my Golden Goose trainers. They're just insanely comfortable. I have a pair for on stage and one for off, and that's perfect.
How do you unwind when you are off-stage?
I unwind by going out. If I can't think of anywhere to go I have a club at the end of my garden and we have a little party there. If I'm in Ibiza or Switzerland there's such amazing nightlife there and I'm pretty nocturnal after years of being a musician. My work finishes at 11 pm and, like anyone, I need to socialise after work. And nothing fun happens in the morning anyway, does it? I'd rather sleep in and wake up at midday when the fun starts, not sit around opening junk mail.
How about when you do head to bed, any essential sleep accessories?
My wife talks about pillows like they're magical. I don't even sleep on a pillow. I'm happy on the floor. The tour bus is like sleeping in a coffin, I'm used to it. I got to our new house first so our bedroom is as I want it at the moment… which includes the huge disco ball over the bed and huge neon sign that reads ‘James Blunt’. I look at it, look at her, and go “lucky you”. She's pretty horrified. She obviously keeps a bottle of tequila by the bed, but wouldn't you do the same in her position? Null the senses. She looks at me and goes “oh, God", then hits the tequila.
For the morning after, any must-have hangover cures?
A Clamato bloody Mary and a shower… or maybe the other way around. It depends.
Tell us some more about the album.
It's a really nostalgic work. I've got an album about myself as a young man coming out of the army trying to find my place, now, I'm fucking older, and I'm suddenly going through the same sort of seismic shift that I did then. I'm not a single man touring the world anymore. I'm married, I'm starting a family, my parents are getting older – my place in the world is changing. My perception is changing in the same way it did when I was a teenager.
So inspiration is back for quite intense songs. There's a song for my wife, for my children, for my parents, and one for Carrie Fisher, the actor and my friend. She passed a number of years ago and it's taken me until now to write the song. So yeah, where the album is serious, the book – Loosely Based on A Made-Up Story – is not. It's sort of a non-memoir because I don't remember very much. Again, I live in Ibiza. It's a bit more crass.
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