James Blunt celebrates the 20th anniversary of his biggest hit that he calls ‘a bit creepy'
James Blunt's song 'You're Beautiful' is beloved, even though it's not about what some people imagine.
The British singer recently shared a video and post on social media in which reflected on his hit earworm.
'20 years ago today, I released a song that bought me this house,' Blunt said. 'Whoever thought a song about being high as a kite on drugs, stalking someone else's girlfriend would resonate quite so much? Thank you. You guys are beautiful.'
The song off his 2004 debut album, 'Back to Bedlam,' became a worldwide hit in 2005.
In 2020, the former British army captain wrote an essay for the Guardian about 'You're Beautiful' and talked about the inspiration for the tune.
'One day I was on the underground in London and saw an ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend,' he wrote. 'Our eyes met, but we just walked past each other, and I went home and wrote the words to 'You're Beautiful' in two minutes.'
He also addressed the disconnect between how the song came to be and how fans viewed it.
'It's always been portrayed as romantic, but it's actually a bit creepy,' he wrote. 'It's about a guy (me) who's high and stalking someone else's girlfriend on the subway. But everyone has those moments where you wonder: 'What if I'd said something?''
How beautiful is that?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wakeup call from the sea
NICE, France (AP) — An ominous chain unspools through the water. Then comes chaos. A churning cloud of mud erupts as a net plows the seafloor, wrenching rays, fish and a squid from their home in a violent swirl of destruction. This is industrial bottom trawling. It's not CGI. It's real. And it's legal. 'Ocean With David Attenborough' is a brutal reminder of how little we see and how much is at stake. The film is both a sweeping celebration of marine life and a stark exposé of the forces pushing the ocean toward collapse. The British naturalist and broadcaster, now 99, anchors the film with a deeply personal reflection: 'After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.' The film traces Attenborough's lifetime — an era of unprecedented ocean discovery — through the lush beauty of coral reefs, kelp forests and deep-sea wanderers, captured in breathtaking, revelatory ways. But this is not the Attenborough film we grew up with. As the environment unravels, so too has the tone of his storytelling. 'Ocean' is more urgent, more unflinching. Never-before-seen footage of mass coral bleaching, dwindling fish stocks and industrial-scale exploitation reveals just how vulnerable the sea has become. The film's power lies not only in what it shows, but in how rarely such destruction is witnessed. 'I think we've got to the point where we've changed so much of the natural world that it's almost remiss if you don't show it,' co-director Colin Butfield said. 'Nobody's ever professionally filmed bottom trawling before. And yet it's happening practically everywhere.' The practice is not only legal, he adds, but often subsidized. 'For too long, everything in the ocean has been invisible,' Butfield said. 'Most people picture fishing as small boats heading out from a local harbor. They're not picturing factories at sea scraping the seabed.' In one harrowing scene, mounds of unwanted catch are dumped back into the sea already dead. About 10 million tons (9 million metrics tonnes) of marine life are caught and discarded each year as bycatch. In some bottom trawl fisheries, discards make up more than half the haul. Still, 'Ocean' is no eulogy. Its final act offers a stirring glimpse of what recovery can look like: kelp forests rebounding under protection, vast marine reserves teeming with life and the world's largest albatross colony thriving in Hawaii's Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. These aren't fantasies; they're evidence of what the ocean can become again, if given the chance. Timed to World Oceans Day and the U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice, the film arrives amid a growing global push to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 — a goal endorsed by more than 190 countries. But today, just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected from harmful industrial activity. The film's message is clear: The laws of today are failing the seas. So-called 'protected' areas often aren't. And banning destructive practices like bottom trawling is not just feasible — it's imperative. As always, Attenborough is a voice of moral clarity. 'This could be the moment of change,' he says. 'Ocean' gives us the reason to believe — and the evidence to demand — that it must be. 'Ocean' premieres Saturday on National Geographic in the U.S. and streams globally on Disney+ and Hulu beginning Sunday. ___ Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Brilliant York night out for the food and disco - but the toilets were awful!'
Here are the key facts, memories and photos in our look back at The Willow in York NEWS that one of York's most popular ever nightspots is to 'return' for one night only sent us delving into our archive, if not quite dusting down our dancing shoes. The Willow – the legendary York Chinese restaurant-turned disco in Coney Street, which closed ten years ago – is set to return to York for one night this month. The Willow Experience is part of the York Festival of Ideas and will allow those attending to 're-experience the Willow'. The event, on June 14, from 6pm to 7pm, involves the Willow Archives Stories, a series of six short archive films that share memories from the challenges and joys experienced by the family-run business, as well as why residents loved it and the venue's special last night. 1999: The Willow Restaurant, Coney Street. The screenings will mark the 10th anniversary of the Willow's closure and the launch of the Willow Community Digital Archive, a StreetLife project focusing on the communities of Coney Street. Admission is free but booking is required. Find out more here. To mark the resurrection of the Willow – albeit – for one night only, we have put together this gallery of images from the iconic night spot. Readers have also been commenting on the 'come-back' and sharing memories of their nights at The Willow; here is a selection: below, followed by The Willow in York essential fact file: Members of our nostalgia Facebook group, Why We Love York - Memories had some fine recollections to share about nights at York's most unusual disco Rosie Brannan wrote: "Absolutely loved The Willow; Chinese at it's best. Was so sorry to lose it." Julian Schofield posted: "Loved that place and Tommy - great nights spent there with the staff of Elliot's - would love for us all to meet up there on that night." 2015: Tommy and Sue Fong of The Willow in Coney Street, pictured ahead of its closing weekend. Picture- Frank Dwyer Richard Gatecliffe said: "Always had a great night there." Rebecca Kelly said: "Brilliant night out, food and disco etc, but the toilets were awful!" Sally Rowlinson recalled: "Your feet stuck to the floor." Legendary restaurant set to return to York for one night 'experience' First look: Pop-up bar and food stall from top TV chef opens in York 'It was the perfect storm' - real reasons behind sudden closure of York shop Meet the artist who draws York's best-loved pubs, shops and restaurants 1. The Willow in Coney Street has been part of York's social scene for decades; it dates back almost 90 years to 1936 when it was a cafe, of the same name. 2. In 1973, Tommy Fong took it over and it became one of York's more unusual - but super-popular - late-night spots. Part Chinese restaurant, part late-night disco, generations had enjoyed a late night bop at The Willow alongside a bowl of chow mein or a dish of prawn crackers. 3. Accessed through a set of steep steps, a night at The Willow was a must-do for locals and visitors alike. Inside The Willow Chinese Disco which closed its doors forever on Sunday 26 July 2015 4. When news broke that the much-loved venue was to close, more than 400 people signed a petition in protest. 5. A spoof video, titled Hitler Reacts to the News That Willow is Closing, also attracted almost 12,000 hits on YouTube. 6. Speaking to The Press back in 2015, owner Tommy Fong revealed why it had to close. He said his lease for the premises from its owner Aviva had expired in 2012, since when he had operated under a 'tenancy at will' lease, allowing the landlord to terminate it at any time, and he had been given four weeks to vacate the building. 7. It was an end of an era when The Willow staged its last dance on Sunday July 26, 2015. For die hard fans, York's night life was never the same again.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Lockdown businesses thriving five years after Covid
Five years ago, the Covid-19 lockdown was still in force, with wide-ranging impacts that are still being felt today. For some, thought, it was a chance to try something different and launch a business. How have they fared and was the gamble worth it? This weekend Leah Sigsworth will open a pop-up shop in London's Fitzrovia to mark five years since the birth of Ethereal Jewellery. Leah, 23, from Northamptonshire, started the company in her parents' back garden during lockdown. "When I started, it was really something to keep me busy. It was for my own mental health; it was something to do during the loneliness of the Covid lockdown," she says. By September 2020, she had begun a creative writing degree at the University of Lincoln, and carried on with the business, working with her boyfriend, Hugh Walker, also now 23. "Then, when I graduated, I sat down with Hugh, and my parents and said, 'Can we do this full-time?' and we did." Leah, who was was state educated at Sharnbrook Academy, Bedfordshire, says: "I fell in love with being a business owner. I liked the freedom. It's given us so much;it's actually insane thinking about it." "We only launched on Tiktok Shop in November last year, which went crazy, I now have about 227,000 followers. "We've been to TikTok headquarters a couple of times since. It's probably about 70% of our business, with the rest through website sales and Instagram, where I have 27,000 followers." The business now employs four people, including her mother Cara Sigsworth and occasionally her father Richard and sister Sophie, 20. "We're also looking at some new external hires as well," says Leah. Last year she decided to travel the world with Hugh while working remotely. "We were also saving for our own home. We found a cottage for sale when we came back from travelling, put an offer in, it was accepted and five months later, in December, we moved in." As the online face of the brand, she frequently appears in social media posts but prides herself on always being herself. "I don't always have a full face of makeup, and my hair sometimes looks absolutely hideous, and I'll make videos in my pyjamas," she says. "I think sharing every day on social media is sometimes tough because you are sharing when all the bad things happen, so I've tried to be really open and honest. "I'll say 'Look guys, I'm really struggling with anxiety this week', or if we've had a really rubbish week because of an email a customer has sent me." Mostly, though, life is good. "I've started a brand, it's given me a lot of hope and it all happened by accident," she says. Oksana Koryak, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, says the Covid pandemic created "a window of time for people to actually concentrate, and create the mindspace to think about something that might be a viable business idea". She says: "It was a catalyst for some entrepreneurial soul-searching. "I think we all have it within us. It's not something that you're born with, it's a combination of the environment that you've been exposed to and opportunities that come your way." One thing for would-be entrepreneurs to remember, she says, is that younger people are very "TikTok-driven". She says: "It's creating a product that people might like and communicating what it is in the way that is relatable to that particular demographic; that is really important. "I generally believe that entrepreneurship could be a very rewarding career path for many people. "Even if we are in full employment, I think it's still important to be entrepreneurial, and to look out for opportunities on behalf of our employers, or even just as a side hustle." "It's been crazy," is how Aaron Shade, 34, from Bedford, describes the past five years. He and his fiancée Sarah Ball had successful careers in sales and marketing. Wanting to spend more time with their family, they started their own business within the travel industry. When Covid took hold, it was "wiped out", so they looked for a new challenge and started SAY Doughnuts in April 2020, from their home. It now employs 18 people and has two shops, in Bedford and Hitchin, Hertfordshire "We started with just the two of us, selling to friends and family, and then it spread really quickly and organically, and we also sold wholesale goods to cafes and delis in surrounding towns like, Ampthill, Maulden, Woburn Sands, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Olney and Hitchin," says Aaron. When they outgrew the family kitchen in March 2021, they got the keys to a retail unit that they converted into a bakery. For a year they also had a shop in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, but it closed in late 2024. "We will expand again, but we have to be cautious. I would like to be in Cambridge," he says. "I'm still normal, I still live in my same house but we've sold over £1m worth of coffee and doughnuts." "It sounds like we should be flying, but that's not how business works. "We've lost a lot in Berkhamsted and still have to live off this business with no salaries coming in from anywhere else." The business is "looking at the future", he says. "We're a household name in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with 16,600 followers on Instagram. "It's insane. Not many businesses get this far. We've lent on friends and family to get us here. "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster. " Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Sisters turn to cakes and jewellery in lockdown 'People think I work in a cafe at 18 but I own it' 'We built a great business from Covid lockdown' Cranfield University
