For James Blunt, life after ‘Beautiful’: Surviving a megahit

NEW YORK: Many songwriters would kill for the predicament that James Blunt is in: famous for one song, and only one.

That hit, “You’re Beautiful,” is a dewy ballad about catching a glimpse of a former girlfriend in the subway. Critics loathed it, but it reached No. 1 from Latvia to Latin America and helped Blunt’s debut album, “Back to Bedlam,” sell 11 million copies around the world. As last year’s combination wedding song, television soundtrack song and supermarket background music, “You’re Beautiful” was more than popular – it was ubiquitous.