James Arthur announces birth of his first child with sweet tattoo tribute

James Arthur has announced he's a dad for the very first time in an adorable Instagram post.

The X Factor winner confirmed he welcomed a daughter named Emily earlier in the week and said that her arrival was 'unexpected'.

The 34-year-old also shared a video of him cuddling his bundle of joy, where his daughter's name can be seen tattooed on his hand.

Cuteness overload!

The ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ singer used a snippet of his song ‘Heartbeat’ in the clip, where he sings the lyrics: “You are my heartbeat.”

James’ fans and celebrity friends took to the comments to congratulate him on becoming a dad.

Pixie Lott said: “Wowww congrats James!!!”

Fellow X-Factor contestant, Rylan Clarke added: “This is gonna make you. Love you xxx.”

Ashley Cain commented: “Congratulations my brother God bless.”

Lots of fans also noticed James’ daughter shares her name with one of his songs, 'Emily'.

The singer previously revealed that his song was written to his future child and it was written while his partner was pregnant but the couple tragically lost the baby.

Speaking on Andy Jaye’s An Hour With podcast in November 2021, James said the song was written to tell their child he had been ‘living with an empty soul’ until she came along.’

He explained: “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.

Roberto Finizio / Alamy Stock Photo.

“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.”

In the song, James sings: “'I needed life and life came, and gave me Emily. You make me a better man than I'll ever be, ever be, ever be, because of you Emily.”

During his podcast interview, he also addressed how he felt when writing about the pregnancy when his partner was in the early stages of her pregnancy.

There is an unwritten rule which says parents should avoid revealing their pregnancy until the 12-week mark, because at this point most pregnancies are considered to be safe.

"I remember at the time saying 'So you've got to wait 14 weeks', or whatever it is, before you can even celebrate this, and I was writing the songs about it - I'm going to be a dad.

"I was thinking about having the hopes and fears anybody would have having a child. And sadly it didn't work out."

James rose to fame after taking part in the 2012 series of The X Factor. The public voted him the winner and he released his winner's single, a cover of Shontelle's single 'Impossible' in December 2012.

For baby loss support contact Tommy's www.tommys.org and to learn more about miscarriage visit www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk