Back from the Edge

Background

Following his self-titled debut studio album being released on 1 November 2013, peaking to number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, on 5 April 2014, several media outlets began to report that Arthur had been dropped from Syco, following a dispute regarding a song entitled, "Follow the Leader". He took to Twitter to deny the claims, however on 11 June 2014, Arthur announced via Twitter that he and Syco had parted ways by mutual agreement. During the summer of 2014, Arthur stated that he was working on his second album and was close to signing a new record deal. On 6 September 2015, he announced that he had signed with Columbia Records and that a new album was on the way.

Singles

On 9 September 2016, he released "Say You Won't Let Go" as the official lead single from the album. The single peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart, a position it maintained for three weeks. Outside the United Kingdom, the single has topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore, Indonesia and the Republic of Ireland. The music video was released in the same month and was directed by Felix Urbauer.

On 22 December, it was confirmed that "Safe Inside" would be the second single. The music video was released on 25 December and was directed by Frank Hoffman. The song will be released in February 2017. Arthur performed the song at the 2017 National Television Awards

Promotional singles

On 8 January 2016, Arthur released a new song called "The Truth" on iTunes in the United States. Following the song's release, he took to Twitter and clarified that the song would feature on Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn, and that it was not the lead single, only a promotional single. On 21 October, a duet version of "Let Me Love the Lonely" was released as promotional single only in Poland, featured vocals of Polish singer MaRina. The song certified Gold in the country.

Critical reception

In the first review of the album, The Sun newspaper gave an extremely positive review, saying "James is truly singing for his life on this album, and his vocals have never sounded better" Digital Spy gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, labeling it "the anti-X Factor album" and further stating that "This is the winner we all wanted".