James Blunt has made his feelings clear towards two fellow British music icons—Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn.
The You’re Beautiful hitmaker, 51, is famous for his sarcastic clapbacks on social media and putting haters in their place, as well as his lovey-dovey lyrics, of course.
But this time, it’s two celebs from his industry being shut down.
Speaking to Jake Humphrey on the latest episode of High Performance, James recalled past comments from Oasis star Noel, 58, but revealed they’ve always been made behind his back, having already made it known he reckons Noel is ‘two-faced’.
‘Noel Gallagher’s never said anything unkind to my face; he just always does it to your back when he’s trying to flog music,’ he told the podcast.
‘And Noel Gallagher saying he can’t live in Ibiza because I live down the road? Well, what a sad human being he is,’ James blasted.
‘It’s a big enough island! You know? I’m not asking you to come and see me.
‘And weirdly, house prices went through the roof the moment he left, actually, and I don’t know whether the house prices went up because he had left or because I’d arrived, but there’s gotta be some connection.’
Wonderwall singer Noel began splitting his time between the UK and the party island in 1999 when he purchased a home there for £2.5million from Mike Oldfield.
It’s believed he even had a nightclub named Blunty’s at the bottom of his garden, which featured a neon sign reading ‘Where everyone is beautiful’ in a nod to James’s chart-topping tune.
However, things turned sour when the High Flying Birds frontman said he was ‘fed up of hearing James Blunt bang on about Ibiza like he owns the place’.
A source added previously: ‘He can’t stand the thought of Blunt writing crap tunes up the road.’
Consequently, Noel felt James’s presence had ‘taken the charm out’ of the Spanish island, and he put his villa on the market for a whopping £5.5m in 2008.
As for Damon, 57, songwriter James isn’t his biggest fan either.
‘There I was on Jools Holland, and at the end of the Jools Holland show, they take a picture of all the musicians, and Damon Albarn refused to be in that photo because I was on the episode with him,’ James shared.
‘He said that in front of you?’, host Jake asked.
‘No, his management went and spoke to the producers of the show, and he’s a big deal, so they went along with that, which is bizarre too because they should’ve just told him not to be such a p***k,’ James replied.
‘And so I was then held back in my dressing room … while all the musicians were lined up around Jools Holland for the photo with Damon, and then he was led out to his car and off he went home, and I was brought out for the second photo, and only one of those makes the Wall of Fame, but it’s very petty stuff.’
On why his name has come up so often in these conversations, James had an articulate response.
‘It’s very easy for us as musicians, or people in the public eye, to fall for the trap when we’re trying to flog our own music, when someone says, “Which album don’t you like?” or “Which musician don’t you like?” We just fall for that,’ he explained.
‘And it’s too easy for us to start saying, “I don’t like this person, I don’t like that person…” and we say whoever’s the easiest whipping boy or girl at the time, and I happen to be that person.’
Thankfully, though, there has been one person who had James’s back… and it might not be someone you’d expect it from.
‘There I am at the Q Awards, and I’m up for one of the awards, and I guess the Gorillaz were up for the same award,’ he recalled.
‘I was lucky enough that day to get it, so maybe Damon was…,’ James began, not finishing his sentence but seemingly suggesting Gorillaz star Damon might have resented his triumph.
‘But there, Keith Flint of The Prodigy, what a rock star, what a punk rock star, a guy you’d think would be the most unfriendly, he just came up, grabbed me, put his arms around me, and said, “Good for you, mate, I’m so thrilled for your success,” and it was a hug that meant a lot to me at the time.
‘He was an amazing, gentle, kind human being.’
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