It is raining glitter, but James Morrison could probably care less. In the music video for "Slave to the Music," released this month as a single in the UK, the English singer-songwriter finds himself and his band in a warehouse that was probably once used to shoot Gap commercials, but where gold glitter now pours from the ceiling, and a modern dance company leaps before him. None of this seems to bother Morrison, who is lost in the groove. He looks as though he's having the time of his life, shuffling and rocking and doing his best Michael Jackson sounds, with just a hint of John Mayer-esque impassioned facial contortions.

On his third album, The Awakening, Morrison reconnects with his love of soul and R&B. The record was released in October 2011, and it earned him a BRIT Award nomination. The album is also perhaps Morrison's most personal, since in the span between Awakening and his sophomore effort, Songs for You, Truths for Me, he lost his father, an event which impacted the songwriting greatly. It also inspired Morrison, who has a three-year-old daughter, to further explore the meaning of fatherhood. We recently spoke to him about The Awakening, his love of Bruce Springsteen, and his daughter's favorite pop artist (hint: it's not him).

Did you find the process of breaking into the States different from breaking into the UK?
Yeah. I think you have to put more time into the States, because it's such a bigger place. It takes a bit longer for my records to kind of connect, you know? But yeah, at the end of the day, it's the same kind of thing: you take your show to different places and play the shows, and magically it all comes together. I've been over to America a few times with a John Mayer tour, I did a tour with Adele. I really enjoy coming over to America. It's fresh to me, because not everyone knows who I am, so it's exciting to be in that position where you kind of have to work away and get people to get into it.

You called your last album "too lukewarm." What was the catalyst for making a change in your music?
I don't know. I'm still pleased with the second album, but I think if I could have had more time to work on it, I could have made it a better album. Because the first one was live, I wanted the second one to sound more slick, and I think it lost a bit of its soulful edge. It's one of them things you don't realize until it's been done. So I just came away from the second album wanting to make the third album a live one, to reconnect with myself as a person and catch up with friends.

You've worked with a lot of professional songwriters, like Steve Robson and Toby Gad. How do you balance their input or their vision with your own?
I always try to keep in mind the core of what I was trying to say. I don't want to overproduce a demo. Let's just keep them as basic as possible so that nothing gets in stone in your mind. I have that problem where I get demo-it is, or whatever. You get so used to the demo that you can't get your head out of the demo, so I was quite anal about keeping it quite basic. Some of the songs were tracked up quite a lot, and the ones that were tracked up ended up being totally different, so I just tried to concentrate on the songline and the melody line, and once that was right, everything fell into place, really.

I’m awfully sorry to hear about your father. How did the loss of your father impact you and how this album formed?
It made me want to write songs that were more meaningful and less pop lyric-y. I just wanted to write songs that connected me to who I am and what I want out of life and how I feel about life. I wanted it to be less about a loving relationship and more about life. My main goal, was to be coming out of the studio feeling really proud, and not worrying about the success, just about how I felt about it. "Broken Strings" is my biggest single, and I'm proud of the track. It was never one of my favorite tracks, but it was the most successful. It left me with a weird feeling, you know? I'd rather do something I felt really good about and be less successful.

Is this the first album you've written since the birth of your daughter?
Yeah, for the most part. I kind of hinted at it a little bit on the second album with songs like "Love Is Hard." But on this one, I was still quite subtle, you know? I find it really hard to match a song with the amount of emotion and feeling I have for my daughter. I was just lucky that writing about my father was so easy. It was an immediate sort of feeling, an outburst of emotion. I find it harder to write happier songs. It's quite easy to write melancholy stuff when you're feeling it rather than happy stuff. But "The Awakening" was for Elsie and that was one of the first songs that I did that I felt really good about. It was quite an inspiration, having my daughter and singing about her really woke me up to life, and what was important. And by that point, I couldn't have given a shit about the success. I just wanted to be a good artist. If I died, I would want her to be able to get to know me through the songs.

What do you think made it difficult for you to write songs about Elsie and dealing with those emotions?
I don't know. If you're meant to write something, you write it. It's all well and good if you're sitting there and thinking, I really want to write a song about my daughter, but I'd rather wait my time to write about that. I don't want to write about it too early. My daughter is the most sacred thing to me, and I feel like writing about her would intrude on that.

It's such a personal thing for everyone. Just to compare, look at Jay-Z, who the day after his daughter was born, posted a track about her online.
It's true. Everybody has different ways to handle things. Obviously, if it was easy for me to write about my daughter and get it out there, and not be worried about it, then I would do it. But for me, personally, it's a very sacred, precious thing, my relationship with my daughter. I don't feel as comfortable sharing that with the world as I do with other stuff. She's so innocent. I don't want to exploit her innocence.

Does she have a sense of what you do and of your songs at all?
Yeah, absolutely. If she hears my songs on the radio, she'll be like, 'DADDY!' And she knows my voice and knows all the words to all of my songs. I'm quite surprised because I don't play a lot of the stuff. Gill, my partner, she plays a lot of my stuff in the car. It's really, really cool and sweet when I see her singing my songs back to me. It's such a sweet little singing voice.

She sings the Jessie J part.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. She loves Jessie J as well, which is actually pretty cool—she's actually my daughter's favorite artist, so it's pretty cool for me to be able to say to my daughter, 'I'm going to go see Jessie J tonight' and get her to wave at her at gigs and stuff. For me, I just feel like the coolest dad in the world. It's wicked.

And you recorded the biggest single on this album with Jessie J, who's another UK artist making traction in the States. What was the collaborative process with her like?
It was quite surreal. I was quite nervous to meet her. She was massive at the time, and I had just heard lots of 'diva stories.' And I was quite nervous because I'm nothing like that; I'm quite a down to earth, simple guy. I don't put up with any bullshit like that, you know? But luckily, she was really cool. She wasn't a diva. She sang her ass off. Together in the studio, I was totally honest with her about what I wanted from it, and I wanted her to be happy with it. We spent the whole day, her singing loads of vocals and me just kind of saying, 'You don't need to work as hard to get it to sound good.' I wanted a more subtle version of Jessie J on this song, because of what it was about. Doing what she does on her record is totally different from the vibe I wanted for mine. But by the end, I was really happy, she was really happy and every time I hear that track I'm just really stoked that she sang on it. It was a great experience. She's a sick singer. She's one of the best singers I've been in the studio with, so it was amazing for me to work with her.

Last year, this narrative began forming in the pop music writing world about the trend of white British soul singers — Adele, Duffy, Joss Stone. And some of the songwriters and producers you've worked with have worked with them as well. You've toured with Adele. Do you identify with this movement at all? Where do you think the pattern is coming from?
All of my favorite records come from the early '60s, early '70s stuff, whether it's Stax Records or Otis Redding. Some of the best music in the world has come from that time, and I think if you're from England, there was only the kind of Britpop music or the '90s dance music and then you're going back to David Bowie or the Beatles or the Stax Records, so I think some of the best records were made from that time. The sound of the band, the voices together, all that stuff. It was a great time for music, and that's why I think Amy Winehouse and Duffy and Adele turn back to those records, because they were so well-made compared to how records are made nowadays.

You've supported the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, appeared on an album with Herbie Hancock. Do you have a favorite moment from any of these appearances?
I went to see Bruce Springsteen live in L.A. and I just remember thinking, I looked at my band, and really kind of molded my band on the basis of what I saw with Bruce Springsteen's concert. I just thought that was so exciting. The energy of the brass section, the mixture of soul and country and lyrical music. That's why I think his records are soulful, because he's got a story to tell and he's got a great band backing him. It's like Them or The Band, it's the same kind of thing. It's great playing and great music. I met Stevie Wonder at a charity gig and that was probably one of the best moments of my life. All of that stuff is inspiration. All the artists that I listen to subconsciously affect me in an inspirational way. I try to do it on a subconscious level and not plagiarize and just sort of let it come out. All of the music I was brought up on like Stevie Wonder and rock 'n' roll like The Eagles, all just good music. I've always loved great lyrics, lyrics that draw you in and a melody that you can sing.

What's next for James Morrison?
Next for me is a hell of a lot of gigs. I'll be doing a tour in England, doing a tour in Europe, coming back to America for a bit to do a tour with my band and an acoustic setup. I'll be going to Japan, Singapore, hopefully Australia. I've got some festivals in the summer. All this year is busy for me, and I'm excited to be getting out on the road and doing live concerts again.