James Arthur returned to the spotlight in June to debut his new single, A Year Ago, with a powerful performance on Britain’s Got Talent and interview on ITV’s Lorraine. The 35-year-old singer is celebrating 10 years since he won T_he X Factor_ with four top 10 albums in the time since. Today, he appeared on This Morning to talk about his decade of chart-topping hits, also opening up about the traumatic impact of fame in a refreshingly honest and raw interview.
BGT fans were floored by his performance on the show earlier this summer, and yet the Google search data told a very different – but predictable – story when it comes to what viewers were really focused on, as it does today after his appearance on This Morning. ‘James Arthur before and after plastic surgery’ quickly became a breakout search term on Google in June, with the question 'Has James Arthur had surgery?' also a breakout today. And while intrigue around his admittedly different look is unsurprising, it’s the social media reaction that deserves scrutiny.
Posting pictures of James years ago alongside screenshots of his Lorraine interview in, countless trolls began attacking the singer for what they presume to be plastic surgery enhancements. James hasn’t commented on the rumours of alleged cosmetic surgery but spoke in 2018 about having nose surgery (to improve his vocal range) and veneers.
Frankly, it’s none of our business what James chooses to do with his face, but it is worth noting that this intense public interest any time a celebrity looks vaguely different serves to damage all of us when mass mockery and judgement seems so normal online.
Just as tabloid headlines about James Arthur’s ‘unrecognisable new look’ perpetuates plastic surgery rumours, trolling celebrities online for their alleged surgical treatments only encourages a world where we, just like celebrities, are damned if we do, damned if we don’t when it comes to cosmetic treatments. If you don’t ‘age like fine wine’, you’re trolled, if you choose to go under the knife, you’re trolled, if you do none of the above but for one of many reasons end up looking slightly different at one point in time, you’re bloody trolled.
Frankly, just as we would say with any female celebrity, James deserves to do whatever he wants to his face without shame or judgement – we’re all just victims of the same unrealistic beauty standards after all, let’s just live and let live… and enjoy the new music!