James Arthur on why he still gets nervous before performing live

Former X Factor winner James Arthur joined us backstage at Hits Live Liverpool on Friday 15th November, performing some of his biggest hits to the sold-out crowd on the night. The singer, who told presenter Fleur East who he thinks will win The X Factor: Celebrity, also revealed the reason why he still gets some pre-show nerves.

Speaking in our swanky backstage arena, James said, "It’s always different I think. It’s always really different like shows like this you know you’ve got a great line-up and I’m last on the bill. So I don’t know if that means that people are expecting more…"

"More of a show from me or something. So yeah, I just try, yeah; yeah I still get a bit nervous yeah."

When Fleur told James that's because he 'cares', the singer replied, "I care", before going on to say, "I still care, I am still not… yeah, I haven’t quite died like inside yet. My soul is still somewhat still there."

James, who revealed he's going to spend time with his family this Christmas, also told us about his urge to work on something like the James Bond theme tune.

When Fleur asked what his dream job as a singer would be, James said, "I don’t know like a James Bond theme tune or something would be cool like just something a bit different. I don’t know something like that.

"I just like to… at this point of my career, I have written a love song that is going to stand the test of time. It’s one of your few songs to get a billion streams and it’s like a song that people have made part of their weddings and things like that. So I feel like I’ve proved myself in that field and like I don’t really want to do any more of that.

"I feel like I’m getting known as being this balladeer and my fans know that I do a lot more. I love to do hip hop and I do rock and I can switch some bars as well, I can do a few different things and it’s a bit frustrating sometimes when people think I’m just this like depressing love song guy."

We are totally down for this! 🙌

The fantastic line-up at Hits Live Liverpool included, James Arthur, John Newman, Jax Jones, Sigala, Freya Ridings, Becky Hill, RAYE, Joel Corry and HRVY.

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