has ’s unexpected love for rap, and one artist in particular.
The former star, 35, – named Emily – in November 2022.
He’s understood to share her with long-term girlfriend and dancer Jessica Grist, who he reconciled in early 2022 following a brief split.
In an interview on Friday, he revealed that his little daughter could be following in her father’s musical footsteps as he spoke about her favourite rapper and song.
‘She likes Rick Ross quite a lot – everyday i’m hustlin’ – she loves that song,’ he told Fleur East on the on Friday.
‘Obviously, we don’t play her the verses but when we put it on, she’ll start rocking back and forth,’ he added.
Rick, 47, released his debut single Hustlin’ in 2006, which features frequent f-bombs among its explicit lyrics in the verses.
Luckily, Emily also looks to be ’s music too.
‘There’s one song of mine in particular, that settles her when she’s upset. It’s the first song from this album [Bitter Sweet Love], A Year Ago, and that one she likes,’ James revealed.
Talking to mum-to-be Fleur as he promoted his new album, he was careful to give parenting advice that she should follow her own intuition.
‘It’s a bit of a cliché but every child is different and it’s a bit annoying when people give you advice about your own kids. You’re going to parent however you parent so trust your instincts!’ he insisted.
James also revealed the importance of the number 23 to him, which appears on his clothes and in his social handles, and how it was also related to his daughter.
‘It’s been a thing for me since I was young, I would see it everywhere. I used to do a bit of gambling when I was younger, and that number was always quite fruitful. It’s in my date of birth… it shows up everywhere,’ he explained.
Referring to Emily, he continued: ‘And 2023 was a great year for me, the first year of my daughter’s life – a lot of great things happened.’
Falling Like the Stars singer James, who kicked off his career after , had kept the fact he was to be a father under wraps last year.
He announced the surprise news on Instagram with a sweet video, which also revealed he’d already sorted out a permanent tribute to his daughter.
‘In the last few days someone made an unexpected arrival,’ the clip begins before it cuts to the baby’s adorable hand wrapped around James’ finger, with a tattoo reading ‘Emily’ on show.
The video was to his own song Heartbeat, written for Emily, with the lyrics: ‘You are my blood, you are my heartbeat.’
The happy news comes after , after his girlfriend suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
His partner encouraged James to speak out about their loss after he initially suggested the song was written for his future child.
Speaking on , the Say You Won’t Let Go crooner said: ‘To be honest, when it first came out I sort of billed it as that, but I spoke to my partner, and at the time it was a realistic prospect. She was pregnant.
‘Sadly it didn’t work out. It wasn’t far, it was a couple of months and she had an ectopic pregnancy. So she lost the child, and I didn’t really want to talk about it.
‘But she actually said “I think it’s really important that you do” – just because there’s so little information, and I would echo that actually.’
James Arthur’s new album Bitter Sweet Love is out now.
