Artists almost always experience downtimes, depression and in some cases, a career dive that usually breaks the artist’s spirit with no opportunity to climb back into stardom.

And British singer-songwriter James Arthur is no exception — as he revealed that he almost quit music just two years after winning The X Factor UK in 2012 and no other word best describes how he survived that dark period in his life than “miracle.”

“In 2012, I won The X Factor, and then two years later, I lost my record deal,” Arthur said. “Two years after that, I got it back, and then the success of my song called Say You Won’t Let Go, which reached a billion streams on Spotify. And I never dreamed that, that was possible. I felt like, you know, my career was over before that. It felt like a miracle so that’s probably the highlight of my career.”

Asked what made him continue with his career despite the uncertainties, Arthur said that he does not know the real reason and all he knows is that he wanted to just give up and quit.

“I definitely wanted to quit. I wanted to give up because it seemed like… when I look at the statistics and look at the people that have gone before me that won The X Factor, especially the men who’d won X Factor,” said Arthur.

“Unfortunately, their careers were over after the first attempt. When they lost the record label, nobody would ever conceive the idea that they would come back and do anything of any worth.”

“So, I had that in the back of my head while I was trying to keep going. I was like, you know, why would the radio ever play me again? Why would The X Factor ever ask me to come back and perform again? I didn’t just lose my record label. It really tarnished my reputation. I really like embarrassed myself because I’ve had this public meltdown,” he added.