Two years after the release of his 2019 album YOU, James Arthur returned today with It’ll All Make Sense In The End, a 14-track body of work that perfectly encompasses everything we missed about the English singer-songwriter.
The 33-year-old is now 10 years into his professional career and it doesn’t appear as though his success will be slowing down any time soon. After garnering public attention from winning The X Factor in 2012, Arthur went on to release three studio albums. Featured on the second of the three was “Say You Won’t Let Go.” The 2016 single has now amassed just under 1.9 billion Spotify streams, making it his most well-known song. Now signed with Columbia Records, his music career has been nothing short of eventful, and we’ll tell you right now, don’t be surprised if you audibly say ‘wow’ when listening to something of his.
Arthur is known for his ability to delve deep into an emotional state that everybody can relate to at one point or another. “Train Wreck” and “Can I Be Him” exemplify this flawlessly and we strongly encourage you to take a listen to both if you haven’t already. It’ll All Make Sense In The End is no exception to this.
Prior to today’s album drop, “Medicine,” “September,” “Emily” and “Avalanche” were released as singles and have already accumulated over 120 million streams and views worldwide.
Check out his recent performance of “September” on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Each of the four singles tells a story in its own unique way. The entire album gives us a peek into Arthur’s thoughts and allows for a real emotional connection to take place. “Medicine” was the first song released from the album and is evidently an upbeat, more positive ode to someone who makes him a better man with lines like “you’re my medicine” and “I feel like you could save me now.” Arthur clearly put his whole heart into “Avalanche”. The pain in his voice is felt and his ability to transition from calm to bold sounds is admirable.
A standout amongst the others, “Emily” starts softly with a subtle strum in the background and escalates to a really powerful string of lyrics. When listening, you get the feeling that he wants to protect this unknown girl and will do anything for her. In an Instagram post, he said “wrote a song for my future daughter if I ever have one.”
“Running Away” is emotional yet powerful and beautifully combines a smooth tempo with a strong chorus. It’s a fantastic start to the album and sets the tone for what’s to come. There are several songs on this album that convey Arthur’s range as an artist. “Always” includes a scope of high notes while “SOS” even employs falsetto at one point or another. It’s evident that over the past few years, his sound has matured and feels really honest.
Arthur said:
“After making the first few songs, I realized, ‘Oh, I’m actually unpacking some stuff that I’ve experienced over the last few years—stuff that I’d never really addressed or spoken about before.”
Additionally, Arthur dipped into a few different genres with some of the songs. In “Ride,” the beginning’s initial tempo sounds similar to something you would hear in a hip-hop song, but quickly shifts to his familiar passionate pop sound. “4000 Miles” lends to a rock-influenced sound that is similar to something you might hear from the Foo Fighters.
Without a doubt, an abundance of time and thought was put into this album. “Never Let You Go” provides an immensely thoughtful juxtaposition between an upbeat tempo and heartfelt lyrics while “Last Of The Whiskey”, again, feels like he’s telling a story, but still has some remarkable belts that are made to sound effortless. As a great way to close out the album, “Take It Or Leave It” gracefully reflects the James Arthur that we know and love. His voice is smooth but impactful and still shares quite a bit of emotion, similar to that of Lewis Capaldi.
Check out the video for “Deja Vu.”
With his last album released two years ago, we were not sure what to expect this time around. However, Arthur did not disappoint. His voice sounds rich in each song and there is an incredible passion within each line. The ability to be brutally honest about relationships or life experiences is not easy as an artist as those thoughts are now out there for the world to interpret, but it is definitely one of his biggest strengths as a musician. Listeners are going to appreciate how raw this album is and relate to it on many levels. It’s what will propel him to continue moving forward as an artist.
Rating: 9/10
Listen to It’ll All Make Sense In The End by James Arthur now.
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