‘X Factor’ Winner James Arthur Shuts Down Body-Shamers After Charity Soccer Match
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James Arthur isn’t letting body-shamers dull his recent Soccer Aid experience. The Season 9 X Factor winner played in Saturday’s charity soccer match to raise money for UNICEF. Twitter was full of trolls criticizing his appearance. He decided that it was finally time to put the hate to rest.
‘X Factor’ Stars James Arthur Hits Back At Trolls Criticizing His Appearance
Arthur joined Team England at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium along with The Voice UK coach Olly Murs. The World XI team ended up winning the match. The celebrities raised a record-breaking $17.9 million for UNICEF, which should have been the main focus of the night.
Arthur arrived for training on Sept. 3. and continued to share his excitement before stepping onto the field. The comments Arthur received on social media afterward were extremely harsh and really picked his appearance apart. He tweeted out a response to his 2 million followers.
Many fans rushed to his defense and told him to focus on the positive tweets instead of the negative for the sake of his mental health.
“Sometimes it feels right to acknowledge the hate and make people aware of how stupid it is,” he responded to one fan. Arthur has been very open about his mental health struggles in the past.
Arthur made headlines in 2019 when he canceled a performance at the Teenage Cancer Trust. At the time, he said he was “feeling crippled by anxiety and poor mental health.” He posted about his “troubles” on Instagram in May. Fans were quick to call him an inspiration for raising awareness for mental health issues on such a huge platform.
The Singer Has a New Album on the Way
Despite all the negative comments after Soccer Aid, Arthur is focused on promoting his upcoming album It’ll All Make Sense In The End. He took a bit of a break from releasing new music during the pandemic. Delays in vinyl production have forced the “Say You Won’t Let Go” singer to push the release date to Nov. 5. The track list for the album was already released.
In March, Arthur released the music video for the song “Medicine.” An acoustic version of his song “Train Wreck” went viral on TikTok at the same time. He performed both songs live for Vevo UK in June. With his music gaining momentum on social media, Arthur decided to drop another new single called “September,” which was written and recorded at his home during lockdown.
His most recent song release was “Avalanche,” a more emotional ballad. Arthur also performed the song during his return to the stage in Belfast at Custom House Square in August. He’s really making a comeback one song at a time.
“I needed a break mentally and physically,” he said. “I was a bit drained at the start of 2020. My health was suffering a little bit and we cleared the diary for the year to give me a bit of rest bite, even before Covid came along.”
The vinyl of It’ll All Make Sense In The End is available for pre-order and for pre-save on streaming platforms.
