Back in the mid-2000s, former British Army captain and warbly-voiced angel James Blunt burst onto the music scene with his album Back To Bedlam and the hit single “You’re Beautiful.” Soon, it was impossible to turn on a radio or television without being subjected to Blunt’s acoustic guitar-backed affirmation of your own beauty (yes, yours, reader). Even Blunt himself has acknowledged how obnoxiously pervasive the song became, but that hasn’t stopped him from defending his honor against other soft-voiced pop music boys looking to move in on his turf. Like John Mayer, for example.
Last fall, John Mayer took to Twitter to share his personal musings on what it means to be beautiful. “If you’re pretty, you’re pretty,” the singer wrote. “But the only way to be beautiful is to be loving. Otherwise, it’s just ‘congratulations about your face.’” Presumably, a heart-shaped bat signal went off somewhere and alerted James Blunt to the fact that another mid-2000s musician was talking about beauty. Now, five months later, he’s getting around to telling Mayer what’s what.