"Some Kind of Trouble": James Blunt's New Sound

Transcript

Event Date(s): 01/17/2011 | Event Location(s): New York City, New York, United States | Description: 10:30:00 CLIPS: Clips from the music video "You Are Beautiful" featuring singer James Blunt. 10:30:39 GFX: Graphic of the CD "Some Kind of Trouble" by James Blunt. 10:32:08 CLIPS: Clips from a music video featuring Blunt. 10:33:19 CLIPS: Clips from the documentary "James Blunt: Return to Kosovo" featuring Blunt. James Blunt joins Kathie Lee Gifford and Hodsa Kotb live in Studio 1A. HODA KOTB: Take it off, James. All the way. KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Oh, yeah. KOTB: All the way off. GIFFORD: Oh, yeah. KOTB: All the way. That is James Blunt singing his hit song "You're Beautiful." Oh, is it really? Are you taking everything? Mr. JAMES BLUNT ("Some Kind of Trouble"): Yeah. KOTB: What's going on here? GIFFORD: Let's just let that run for a second. KOTB: Just watch and enjoy. GIFFORD: If he's a surfer, he's got a great body under there. You know that. Mr. BLUNT: And if it's--if it's cold... GIFFORD: If it's cold... Mr. BLUNT: ...my nipples will look really big. GIFFORD: That's what I was going to say next. KOTB: D'oh! GIFFORD: The five-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter is here to perform a song off his new CD "Some Kind of Trouble" hitting the stores tomorrow. KOTB: Yes, James Blunt. GIFFORD: How are you? Mr. BLUNT: Hey. KOTB: We've learned so much about you in this short commercial break. GIFFORD: Oh my gosh. KOTB: Yes, we have. GIFFORD: Well, your new album is called "Some Kind of Trouble" and it's a--you are some kind of trouble. KOTB: Yes. Mr. BLUNT: Thank you. GIFFORD: It's aptly named. Mr. BLUNT: Oh, thanks very much. Well, yeah, there's trouble in all the songs and... KOTB: No. That's not what we're talking about. Mr. BLUNT: ...some of it is the kind of trouble that I would like to be getting into. GIFFORD: Yeah, you like some trouble, right? KOTB: You seem like you're that type. Mr. BLUNT: I would be probably a little intimidated by both of you, though. That's why... GIFFORD: You have no idea. Mr. BLUNT: If that's what you're suggesting. KOTB: OK. If you--if you just look at your CD, by the way... GIFFORD: It's very cute. KOTB: ...I love the picture. This little baby being tossed in the air. She's got a cell phone in her hand, but anyway, what did that symbolize to you? Why did you choose that for the cover? GIFFORD: And who is that child? Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. The--you can find them online, they're called the Shaytards. But I actually--I was throwing my godson up in the air, trying to get a really good album cover and we dropped it. We dropped my godson and broke him. So I put in Google, "baby throw" and I found this child. This child--we didn't damage this particular child. GIFFORD: You did... Mr. BLUNT: And it's--the picture is taken on an iPhone. So yeah. GIFFORD: With her holding her cell phone. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. KOTB: OK. Well, the good thing--what's interesting, I think, about your new sound is your other stuff is beautiful, like that song we just heard. GIFFORD: Yeah. KOTB: This one, when you hear the first track, it just instantly puts you in a great mood, a party mood. GIFFORD: It's funkier. KOTB: Yeah, it's more fun. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. You know, I've done a couple of miserable albums and songs. And it was time... GIFFORD: Well, they weren't miserable, they were just about misery. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah, exactly. GIFFORD: Yeah. Mr. BLUNT: So I was just trying to step it up a bit. And I've got a touring band, and this time I picked up an electric guitar and I wrote up-tempo, energetic songs. GIFFORD: Yeah, what do you have to be miserable about, anyway? Mr. BLUNT: Exactly. KOTB: You are a rock star. GIFFORD: Good grief. You date beautiful women, you have--you live in Ibiza, Spain, and you have a gorgeous home there, and you have your very own nightclub. Mr. BLUNT: It's hard to write sad songs. It's going--it's going OK. KOTB: So do you date different women, or are you currently with someone? Mr. BLUNT: I normally date drunk girls. GIFFORD: You came to the right place. KOTB: Nice. Mr. BLUNT: I have--I have to keep them drunk so they don't see exactly who they're going out with. KOTB: So--OK, so you and your band, and we're going to hear you guys later on, you guys are on tour, a worldwide tour, yeah? Mr. BLUNT: Yeah, we go on tour for 13 months. And we'll be here in the States, you can find that at jamesblunt.com you can get tickets. GIFFORD: Any... Mr. BLUNT: But I can get you in for free through the back door. GIFFORD: And he says any time we want, we can come to Ibiza and just hang out in his nightclub. KOTB: Really? Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. I have a little nightclub and I have a mannequin on the door with a list of all my friends. KOTB: A mannequin? Mr. BLUNT: So--yeah, and I have a big neon sign, my band gave it to me, a big neon sign that says "Blunty's Nightclub, Where Everybody's Beautiful." GIFFORD: Oh. KOTB: Isn't that sweet. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. GIFFORD: You have a tender--you know, I had no idea that you had been a soldier in the--in the British Army. KOTB: Mm-hmm. Yeah. GIFFORD: And you went to Kosovo. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. KOTB: Mm-hmm. GIFFORD: And you wrote a song about Kosovo, and now you have a documentary about it, on a serious note. Tell us about that real quickly. Mr. BLUNT: Yeah. I was in for six years. And in '99 I was in the war in Kosovo, and I went back out there to go play to some soldiers. GIFFORD: Which you do often. KOTB: Mm-hmm. Mr. BLUNT: And--yeah. And to some Serbs and Albanians, they're the ones who were murdering each other at the time and really go to see what's changed. And, you know, what was amazing is these things are in the news for a time. KOTB: Mm-hmm. GIFFORD: Yeah. And then they disappear. We forget. Mr. BLUNT: And we focus--and then we sugar off somewhere else and the we forget about what's going on. GIFFORD: Yeah. Mr. BLUNT: And we kind of forget our promises that we made, and that's what I discovered by going back. KOTB: What... GIFFORD: Well, you promised to sing for us a little later, right? Mr. BLUNT: If you force me to. GIFFORD: Oh. KOTB: Which we--you know we will. GIFFORD: Well, we can--we can hurt you. KOTB: You have no idea. Mr. BLUNT: OK. KOTB: No idea. Mr. BLUNT: That sounds fun. KOTB: OK. All right, James, thank you. GIFFORD: He'll be with us later. KOTB: All right. GIFFORD: If he dares. KOTB: All right.