Last year The Argus received a call about a little-known singersongwriter who was about to make his Brighton debut at Concorde 2.

"He writes very thoughtful lyrics", said the PR woman, by way of persuasion. "The ladies in particular seem to like him."

A former Army captain fresh out of Kosovo, James Blunt, it seemed, was set to win the battle for peoples' hearts and minds.

Come the summer, the 28-year-old was number one in the album and singles charts, his second single, You're Beautiful, having followed the old-fashioned path of a low chart entry, followed by a slow climb to the top. In album sales, by the close of 2005, he had been beaten only by Coldplay.

Now Blunt is filling arenas and topping the Brit awards list with five nominations, and those who didn't help this Brighton Centre gig sell out in days must be wondering why.

Sure, there's the PR-pushed picture of the troubadour of no-man's land - the soldier who drove into Kosovo with a guitar as well as a gun strapped to his tank and strolled through Serb villages singing Give Peace A Chance.

But it's somewhat undermined by the image of a rich boy pushed into the army by his father, who learned piano at boarding school and guarded the Queen Mother's coffin at her funeral.

Before he was picked up by the Atlantic label, more than one record company backed off on the grounds that Blunt was just too posh.

Nor is he a convincing hearthrob. Think rosy cheeks, now far-beyondregulation length hair, and a physique so school-boyish you feel like Mr Bronson bawling at an under-achieving PE student when you mention his surname.

Since looks alone aren't the issue, witness him struggling to undo his cagoule in the video for You're Beautiful or hear him answering interviewers' questions with a polite squawk.

So it must be that people like Blunt's music. So much so, in fact, people who don't like music like it - according to his publicists, Blunt sells to the sort of customers who might only buy one or two albums a year.

Written with the help of Linda Perry, - songwriter/producer for Pink, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera - Back To Bedlam is an album of ballad-heavy pop with lyrics which switch between lovelorn banality and engaging peculiarity (why do the Three Wise Men have a "semi by the sea", for example, and why is the organ grinder on Out Of My Mind looking at Blunt weirdly?)

As popular singer-songwriting goes, Blunt's music is catchier and more ambitious than anything to be expected of Daniel Powter. But Blunt, it seems, just has one of those voices - attractive to some, repulsive to others - and unfortunately You're Beautiful and its scrawny upper octaves stayed at number one long enough for his name to become popular rhyming slang.

A peace-keeper in his former career, James Blunt the musician is as divisive as they come.

6.30pm, sold out, 01273 709709