Exclusive: Hear James Blunt's New Single

Click to listen to James Blunt's Stay the Night.

James Blunt may be known for the once-ubiquitous ballad "You're Beautiful," but "Stay the Night," the lead track from his forthcoming LP, Some Kind of Trouble, is a jaunty, upbeat folk-rock track that recalls the Waterboys or Van Morrison more than the song that made him famous. (OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who wrote Beyonce's "Halo" and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone," worked on the song with Blunt.)

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"Stay the Night" is the first release off five-time Grammy nominee Blunt's Some Kind of Trouble, which comes out on January 25. "It captures a bit of the mood of the early Eighties," Blunt says of the album. "There was a global atmosphere in the West that we could do anything — the same optimism we felt as teenagers. Some Kind of Trouble really captures that same sense of freedom and excitement and naivety." That's also a perfect description of the feel and sentiment of "Stay the Night."

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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