James Blunt – You’re Beautiful

“You’re Beautiful” – Single by James Blunt from the album Back to Bedlam
B-side “Fall at Your Feet”
Released 30 May 2005
Label Atlantic Custard
Songwriters James Blunt Sacha Skarbek Amanda Ghost
Producers Tom Rothrock
Charted nO.1 in US; No.1 in UK; No.1 in Scotland; No.2 in Australia; No.1 in Canada; No.5 in France; No.2 in Germany; No.21 in Italy

The music video for “You’re Beautiful” was filmed on 23 March 2005 at Sa Cova Foradada in Portocolom, Mallorca. It was directed by Sam Brown and Robbie Ryan, with Flynn Productions. Blunt removes the upper portion of his clothing in a cold, bare, snowy setting and places all of his personal belongings on the ground. While doing this, seagulls circle overhead like buzzards. At the end of the video, he jumps off a cliff and falls into the water while he sings the lyrics: “But it’s time to face the truth, I will never be with you”. According to Blunt, he had to jump twice and suffered a split lip in the jumps.

At least one writer’s interpretation is that it shows Blunt taking his own life, perhaps following a Japanese tradition of removing one’s shoes and contents of clothing prior to jumping from a great height. However, the director of the video states in a “making-of” piece of footage that “the idea [of the video] is built around the last line, where he says, ‘I’ll never be with you’, and that idea of completely forgetting about something, of getting rid of that emotion, and moving on, and I think that the video is a sort of visual manifestation of that emotion.

The song received three nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.