James Arthur on his love of Glasgow, Rangers and the restaurant he always goes to

The star, 33, performed at the Hydro in March 2020 despite having issues with his vocals.

And ahead of playing the SEC Armadillo next month, he said: "I can't wait to come and play."

Speaking via Zoom to The Glasgow Times, he continued: "The last time I was there I was a little bit sick, my voice was going a bit.

"I remember apologising to the Glaswegian crowd being like sorry.

"I said to them I can't wait to come back and play for you again."

More than two years later, James has certainly delivered on that promise by setting a date at the Finnieston venue on March 17 after uncertainty in the music industry due to lockdown.

The tour date comes off the back of the Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter's fourth album It'll All Make Sense In The End.

Released at the end of last year, the project features singles Medicine, Emily and SOS. The former X-Factor winner described the album as 'something different, not the usual stuff that people would expect from me'.

So was there a reason for going in a different direction?

"The lockdown," he said.

He added: "It started out like almost a bit of therapy really.

"I would go on express myself, make some songs and see if it made me feel better.

"I felt a bit down at the time and then it sort of developed into this album that I really liked and I really loved the sound of. I wanted to make sure that it all sounded coherent.

"Definitely the lockdown brought it on because I could only make it from my house.

"That was the only way that I could sort of make music at that time.

"I enjoyed it anyway as I was allowed to be more vulnerable in that space than I had ever been before and you can hear it with the lyrics on the album."

That vulnerability will no doubt come across when James takes to the stage in Glasgow which is a city he feels is like a second home thanks to his Scottish roots inherited through his Glaswegian dad Neil.

"I have got Glaswegian blood running through my veins," he said with a smile.

He continued: "It is just so lively in Glasgow. It is like a second home for me, I always love it.

"The crowds are always the best, to be honest.

"You never worry about a Glasgow show because they are always up for it, going to sing along and give you a load of love back."

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James Arthur and Ally McCoist

With strong links to the city, James revealed there are one or two things he likes to do when he visits.

"We like to go to Ibrox sometimes, my dad is a die-hard Rangers fan. I have been a follower of Rangers my whole life.

"We like to go and watch Rangers."

He added: "We always end up going to this Indian restaurant called Mr Singh's, we go there a lot."

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Aside from his passion for the Light Blues, it is clear that James is passionate about music. Throughout his career, he has proven his artistry with thirty million records sold via three albums while global hit Say You Won't Let Go has amassed at last count 1.6 billion streams on Spotify alone.

Despite these successes, he remains humble and truly appreciative to be continuing on the path as one of the UK's leading male solo artists almost a decade after he won The X Factor, and even he admits the recent lockdown has made him take stock of these achievements.

"I am very very lucky, all I ever wanted when I was growing up was to do music for a job and I get to do that on a pretty large scale," he said.

He added: "When you are just going and going, you are on a hamster wheel, you are just working and working, you don’t really have breaks or whatever it is hard for you to really appreciate it.

"But obviously the pandemic forced us all to stop and reflect I never really did that. I never really processed a lot of stuff even like the X Factor stuff or even stuff before that, things from childhood.

"I think I'm the type of character I just always plough on sort of thing.

"I definitely got to a point in the lockdown where I was like wow when this all gets back to normal I am so lucky to be able to do what I love."

For tickets to the show, CLICK HERE