Redcar-born X Factor winner James Arthur returns with album Bitter Sweet Love and gigs in Sheffield, Hull, Middlesbrough and Leeds

And after the tumultuous ride he has been on since winning The X Factor in 2012, he is in no short supply.

The Redcar native was propelled to stardom overnight after winning Simon Cowell’s talent show, but the success took a toll on his mental health and he struggled with drug use.

His career almost entirely derailed in 2014 when he parted ways with Cowell’s Syco label following accusations that he used a homophobic lyric in a song.

As he started to turn things round again, a romantic ballad in the form of Say You Won’t Let Go arguably became his saving grace. The track, which became the lead single of his 2016 second album Back From The Edge, pulled on heart strings across the world, becoming a viral hit.

It has since been streamed nearly four billion times and has achieved diamond status in the US, one of only around 100 songs in history to achieve the accolade.

“I wish I knew it was all going to work out okay in the end”, says Arthur as he reflects on life after the talent show. “I was pretty stressed throughout that process and I wish I kept my composure a bit more at the end of that process and in the coming couple of years after. I wish I’d not buried my head as much as I did.”

The singer explains others did try and help him at this stage, but he was not in a place to hear it.

“There was a lot of people trying to reach out and help me and it was more about the fact that I was too overwhelmed to accept any help and to hear anything that anybody was saying”, he says.

“And I shut a lot of people out, including my own family and friends, because I didn’t really know how to cope with it.”

Whilst his time on the show may have kickstarted a bumpy journey, he does feel the experience quickly brought him up to speed on life in the industry.

“It was being thrown into the deep end really”, the now 35-year-old tells me over a video call.

“Just after that show, I had a bit of a meltdown because it was a lot for somebody who was plucked from obscurity, to use that cliche. But it definitely taught me a lot about what to expect from the music business. It’s a cutthroat business, its the Wild West, there’s not really any rules like there is in a lot of other industries. A lot of the time its not about who the best is, there’s a lot of politics.”

However, Arthur has had his own personal issues to contend with long before his time on The X Factor. In a 2022 BBC documentary, he opened up about how he has struggled with depression and anxiety for decades.

It also saw him return to his hometown of Redcar in North Yorkshire to speak with his parents about how he was impacted by their split and from being put into foster care when he was a teenager.

He has returned to exploring these complex emotions in his new album Bitter Sweet Love.

“I think I’ve just always been around it”, he says of the recurring theme of toxic relationships in the record.

“I’ve experienced it in my personal life, it’s things I’ve seen.

“For some reason, those are the kind of demons I exercise when I make music.

“I think just because of how my life’s gone and the examples of relationships that I’ve seen and that I’ve been in for whatever reason. And it’s relatable.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be about a relationship between you and a girlfriend or a boyfriend, we have these interactions and feelings about a lot of people so it’s just honest, sincere feelings.”

The 13-track record sees him return to his acoustic singer-songwriter roots, with an abundance of heart-wrenching ballads on offer which pair perfectly with his raspy, tortured vocals.

After wrapping up his shows in the States in 2022, he decided to lean into his post-tour blues and love of Americana. His fifth studio album is his first since becoming a father to a daughter in 2022.

“It adds motivation, I want to make my daughter proud”, he reflects.

“When she’s older I want her to be like ‘My dad made some cool music’.

“It feels more like a job now because it feels like something I should take seriously as a job just to set an example about how you should apply yourself.

“I’ve always worked quite hard but I don’t think I’ve taken it as seriously as I do now that I’ve got a kid so I think she’s definitely inspired me to be better in all aspects of my life.”

Alongside reaching personal milestones, the singer is set to tick of a career bucket list item in June when he takes to the stage at Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium for a headline homecoming gig.

It will come amid his upcoming UK arena tour and is “a very full circle moment”, says Arthur, a Middlesbrough FC fan.

“It’s a place I used to go a lot when I was growing up to watch my team play.

“Playing a stadium in any reality is wild, but as someone from the area to be playing that venue, I can’t really put it into words.

“It’s a very proud moment for me.”

James Arthur’s new album Bitter Sweet Love is out now and the UK leg of his tour kicks off on March 5. Dates include Utilita Arena, Sheffield, on Friday, March 8; Connexin Live, Hull, on Sunday March 10; and Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough on Saturday, June 8. He will also perform at Leeds’s Millennium Square as part of the Sounds of the City series on Friday, July 12.