James Arthur "New Tattoo"

With his debut single "You're Nobody til Someone Loves You" (I don't include winner's singles on The X-Factor as their debut singles) set to hit the charts at #2 this week, James Arthur is already off to a good start for his album campaign. I guess to keep anticipation high, he has released an acoustic version of a song called "New Tattoo" (how fitting). The song describes a girl that he likens to a brand new stamp of ink that he doesn't want to remove. Arthur sounds great and I'm sure I will be slayed by the studio version once the album drops November 4th. Take a listen below.

Graded Song-James Arthur "Impossible"

I didn't follow the UK version of The X-Factor as close as I did last year, but apparently Lucy Spraggan didn't win (or even make it to the top three). Nope it was James Arthur, a dude from Yorkshire with a lot of tattoos. But enough about his physical appearance, the dude can sing. He reminds me a lot of Maverick Sabre but with a bit more gruff. The winners song this year was a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", which reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart back in 2010. Does Arthur's hold a candle to the flawless original?
As much as I like his voice, him covering this song was not the best idea on the part of the X Factor team. His voice doesn't mesh naturally with the song, much like Little Mix's didn't with Damien Rice's "Cannonball". Maybe they should have let him perform his cover/tribute of Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman". However, you can tell that he was putting all of his emotion when he was recording the song, so I can't fault him for that. Still, I prefer the original.
Grade:C-