Who We Used To Be : DeLuxe Edition (2023)

"This album is intended as an accompaniment to his memoir "Loosely Based An A Made-up Story".“We’re leading fake lives, I read the truth between the white lines,” he flutes earnestly on “Cold Shoulder”. The lifestyle described with comic vim in the book is intolerable to the album version of Blunt. This personality switch isn’t new. It represents the singer-songwriter’s response to the derision directed at him since his megahit “You’re Beautiful” (2004). He has disarmed the haters with quick-witted banter on social media. He makes better fun of his music than they do. But the persona he projects in his songs has remained unchanged. No concession to critics is offered there. Still active almost 20 years after “You’re Beautiful”, Blunt has run rings around his opponents. His new songs slot neatly into the usual groove. They’re efficiently assembled and easy on the ear. The joshing Blunty we encounter outside the recording studio is inaudible. Which one is the real person?" (Financial Times, 3 uit 5 sterren)