Blunt professes a cool equanimity about his treatment by the news media, but doesn't deny his playboy reputation. During the interview he received a text message from his friend and fellow bon vivant Kid Rock. ("We spent some good times in Cannes this year," Blunt said.) And he lives on the Spanish island of Ibiza, famous for its huge, wild dance clubs.
"We'd have dinner at midnight," he said of his life there, "and I'd be thinking about going to a bar at 2 in the morning. And then we'd think about hitting a club between 3:30 and 4, and the club would close at 8. I'd come back at 9 in the morning and I'd write songs."
If All the Lost Souls is any indication, the popular ridicule has had little effect on him. It sticks closely to the formula that made Back to Bedlam such a big seller: gentle guitars and piano, breathy vocals, melodramatic sweep, a slight tinge of morbidity.
"The person who has to live with this album is me," he said. "It doesn't matter how far up the charts it gets. It doesn't matter if it sells. I really like it."
But his business representatives differ on the promotional plan. Perry says that the gradual roll-out in Europe saved him from being considered a one-hit-wonder there. Blunt made an appeal to Lyor Cohen, the domestic chairman of Atlantic's parent company, the Warner Music Group, asking him to avoid pushing any single too hard and to emphasize the new album as a whole.
Cohen was sympathetic, but only to a point. "Ultimately we're not as romantic," he said. "You need to get the impressions at radio to bring attention to it."
The entire album can be streamed free, or purchased for US$9.99, on Blunt's MySpace page.
And Blunt is not above shooting for big hits. One of the stronger new songs, Carry You Home, was written with Max Martin, the Swedish pop maestro behind blockbusters by the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson.
Cohen said fears of piracy kept him from sending out the songs on All the Lost Souls for licensing in advance of the album's release. But now that the album is out, the saturation can begin.
"We will license these records, in movies, TV and commercials," he said. "Trust me, you will hear these records."
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