Blunt’s fifth album, The Afterlove (2017), was deemed a flop, but it did well enough worldwide to keep him on the road, at arena level, for 18 months. Audiences from Bangkok to Buenos Aires were seemingly unconcerned that the breathy singer-songwriter with the light emotive touch had slalomed off-piste to dabble with electronica and beats. Zemler, Emily (2 August 2022). "James Blunt Welcomes the Highs and the Lows on Breezy Single 'Beside You' ". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 26 October 2023. Dutchcharts.nl – James Blunt – Who We Used to Be" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 November 2023. The Girl That Never Was (Official video)". 12 October 2023 . Retrieved 31 October 2023– via YouTube. James Blunt will release his sixth album, Once Upon a Mind, on October 25 via Custard/Atlantic Records. The album is a collaboration with several producers, including Steve Robson, Jimmy Hogarth and TMS, and the singer has teased the new music with an emotional first single titled “Cold.”

Top Albums (Week 44, 2023)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique . Retrieved 6 November 2023. James Blunt Announces Upcoming 'Once Upon a Mind' Album, Releases Single 'Cold' ". Billboard . Retrieved 29 September 2019. a b c Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (25 October 2023). "James Blunt's heartfelt clichés are easy on the ear in Who We Used to Be – album review". Financial Times . Retrieved 26 October 2023. Houghton, Cillea (22 September 2023). "James Blunt Drops Nostalgic 'All the Love That I Ever Needed' ". American Songwriter . Retrieved 31 October 2023.Power, Ed (27 October 2023). "James Blunt, Who We Used to Be review: Give the posh troubadour the benefit of the doubt!". I . Retrieved 31 October 2023. My dad, he needs an O+ blood group kidney donor, and it’s a long wait, and life gets pretty shit in the meantime. And I suppose for me, the positive is that I have a chance to say the things I would never have otherwise said. To be able to say to him, ‘I’m not your son, you’re not my father/We’re just two grown men saying goodbye/No need to forgive, no need to forget/I know your mistakes, and you know mine.' I idolized this man throughout my childhood, but as we grew older, I realized that he had his own fallibilities, and that’s an awesome thing to see because you suddenly can become friends then. And then obviously as parents get older, the responsibility starts to weigh on the children that look after them. Although that can be painful, there’s something beautiful about it, too. We recorded this in the Guards Chapel, on Birdcage Walk [in London], where I'd been as a serving soldier, and the Trinity Boys Choir came and sang and they sounded amazing.” Ultratop.be – James Blunt – Who We Used to Be" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 November 2023. Offiziellecharts.de – James Blunt – Who We Used to Be" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 3 November 2023. Zemler, Emily (2 August 2023). "James Blunt Welcomes the Highs and the Lows on Breezy Single 'Beside You' ". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 4 November 2023.

I leave [my wife] behind for 18 months at a time, and the song talks about there being an ocean between us—in the physical sense whilst I’m away on tour, in America, or Asia, or Australia, or wherever. But the message is very warm. It says, ‘Without you, I’m just cold.’ There’s definitely risks in saying such things, but the point of music is to be moved by it.” Offiziellecharts.de – James Blunt – Once Upon a Mind" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 31 October 2019. I was the guy who sang that song on the subway 14 years ago, going after another man's girlfriend, saying, ‘You’re beautiful.’ And so I just wonder what’s happened to him now. Is he any better? I mean, he made a ton of money off the song. So now, I imagine that man's chat-up line would just be, ‘Hey, I’ve got a real fast car outside.’ That would be as cheesy as it gets now, as shallow as that.” Austriancharts.at – James Blunt – Once Upon a Mind" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 November 2019.We’ve had a big discussion about it,” he continues, “weeks of me saying, ‘I need that’. Because it’s not just me singing a song, it’s me feeling a song, and that break [in my voice] is everything.” Album – Classifica settimanale WK 44 (dal 27.10.2023 al 02.11.2023)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana . Retrieved 4 November 2023. If he was to dedicate the album to a single person, he says, it would be his father, who has stage-four chronic kidney disease and needs an O-positive kidney donor. The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 6 November 2023". The ARIA Report. No.1757. Australian Recording Industry Association. 6 November 2023. p.6. James Blunt drops latest single The Girl That Never Was". Retro Pop Magazine. 5 October 2023 . Retrieved 31 October 2023.