"My music is autobiographical."

Blunt elaborated on his web page (jamesblunt.com): "It’s (music) my expression and it’s for me. It’s a necessary expression; otherwise I’d just be this Brit that just has a shell. (Quoting Jeff Buckley) ‘Sensitivity isn’t being wimpy; it’s about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom.’"

James Blunt now brings the authentic drama to the Philippines via Viva Concerts’ "James Blunt: Live in Manila" happening on May 19 at the Araneta Coliseum; making Blunt join the party of previous international superstar acts although we have yet to reach the year’s second quarter of the year.

Blunt broke into pop consciousness via "You’re Beautiful" off "Back to Bedlam," an album Blunt released earlier but was only embraced commercially when the song was released with an interesting music video and after two previous singles ("High" and "Wisemen"). In "You’re Beautiful," Blunt was all the while headed for suicide while singing the song.

In his website, he summed up celebrityhood (having been under the microscopic world of Hollywood since fame came for the former military guy) by commenting about being fodder for tabloid controversies.

"We seem to be exactly in the same state as when I was 8 years old. In a school playground, children gossiped about who kissed who, who said what about who, who isn;t cool because they weren’t wearing the right clothes. Now, on a global scale, people write about who kissed who, who said what, and who’s wearing what clothes."

Blunt, who’s said to be into nightclubbing and socializing with other celebrities, has been reportedly linked with Dixie Chassay, casting director for the "Harry Potter" films; Camilla Boler, musician and daughter of the late Stephen Boler; and supermodel Petra Nemcova.

Blunt called this degree of interest in his personal life "bizarre" by naming "fame and (being a) celebrity as something that other people have constructed that I’m not really party to." He also revealed, "Just because I’ve been given the fickle title of celebrity, it doesn’t mean I’m any less human. I go through the same thing, only my mother hears about it first now."

At the end of the day whether he is controversial or not, Blunt is first and foremost a musician. He sold 11 million CDs worldwide, was nominated for five Grammys, and was the first Brit to have held the number one spot (single) in the US since Elton John’s "Candle In The Wind" in 1997 via "You’re Beautiful." He has in his safekeeping two MTV trophies and a pair of Brit Awards.

Blunt described his first CD output "Back To Bedlam" as "a very honest, slightly naive collection of thoughts, emotions and experiences. I wrote them without any knowledge that anyone would hear them."

He released his latest record in September of 2007 called "All The Lost Souls," which he confessed to have gone beyond self-influence and reflected, "Fleetwood Mac, Don Maclean, Elton John, maybe a touch of Steely Dan in there, and if I’m lucky, a bit of Bowie, and if I’m lying I might as well add Zeppelin as well."

Then he made it more personal once more classifying the CD as his own journey.

Blunt, who dragged the success of "You’re Beautiful" to later singles, such as "Goodbye My Lover," is particularly passionate about concert touring. "Touring is the most fun you can possibly have. It’s the best invention anyone came ever came up with."

Despite the trappings of celebrity, Blunt remains in check and grounded knowing the temporariness of it all. "The chorus of ‘I Can’t Hear The Music" sums it up: ‘And if I can’t hear the music and the audience is gone/I’ll dance here on my own.’ It’s about saying that I’m in it for the passion. I’m in it for the love of it and the audience may be a temporary thing."