Taio Cruz is definitely the man of the moment this year as everyone who’s anyone wants to get their hands on this talented producer and singer. I was obviously in the queue to have a maul of the London hipster and discovered what it’s like working with Simon Cowell’s X-Factor successes, hanging out with other celebs at the MOBO awards and hearing his songs in McDonalds.Hey Taio, what have you been getting up to recently, anything exciting?Always! Everything is super exciting.
What’s been especially exciting?
Doing the MOBO awards with the Sugababes the other night which was dead fun, the girls are lovely and it was a really good experience. I also just got back from a gig in Manchester last night.
Did you get star struck at the MOBO’s at all?
Not really; I pretty much know everyone that was there like John Legend.
Ooh, best mate to the stars! Tell me a little bit about your new single; I Just Wanna Know
It’s a re-release of my very first single and I put it out from my own record company and it did really well on it’s own but now that people know who I am and have heard my singles and albums we thought it is the right time to get it out there to more people.
Did you ever think your previous two singles would do as well as they have done?
Yeah. I always think that whenever you create music that you want to present it to people you feel that it’s good and will do well. You can never be sure how well it’s going to do but I would only put it on my album if I thought it was a single and thought that it would do well.
Very true; I Can Be is the first song I put on when I get into work on a morning! What is it like when you go out and your hear one of your songs come on in a club?
It’s good and fun; you get used to it after a while but it’s a great feeling the first few times you hear it. When I heard Your Game - that I wrote for Will Young - when I walked into places like McDonalds I thought “I wrote that!”
Do you dance to them?
Last time I heard Come On Girl I was sin a club with my friends and we all started dancing to it but normally I don’t because it’s like embarrassing!
You’re also kicking off a nine-date UK tour next month; how have you been preparing for that?
I haven’t yet really because there are so many things to do as we’ve been rehearsing for the MOBO awards and I’ve been writing in the studio and I’ve had other shows to do but my band are extremely talented and we don’t need that much rehearsal time - we can pretty much make it happen.
Where are you most looking forward to playing?
I think Shepherds Bush Empire in London is going to be great because it’s the biggest venue that I’ve done so far.
How did you get into the music industry to begin with?
I’ve always loved music and loved to write so I just kind of wrote songs and then one person led to another and I met more and more people and I liked the business enough to set up my own record company and help people get their music out there.
Which musicians do you look up to?
There are loads of people. Anyone who really does well making music is my inspiration. I love Kanye and think Justin Timberlake is awesome and of course you have Timbaland doing his thing. I thought Take That came back really strong too. Anyone who is successful within popular music inspires me.
Simon Cowell is many singers’ most feared critic but he loves you! How does it feel to have someone like him compliment you so highly?
It’s great because obviously he could be nasty and turn around and say that the songs I write are the worst he’s ever heard! But the thing with Simon is that he’s real; he’ll say what he thinks. A lot of people will say they like things to your face but say it was rubbish when you’re gone but the thing with Simon is that he tells it how it is so when he say’s he likes your music you know he isn’t sugar-coating it.
Leona Lewis is the lady of the moment in the UK, what was it like working with her?
I haven’t been in the studio with her yet but I submitted about five songs for her and Shane Ward and some of them they really liked but Leona has a mad schedule at the moment so it’s really hard to be able to get in the studio at the same time as her.
I spoke to Anastacia yesterday who you have worked with in the past, how did that collaboration come about in the first place?
Well the owner of her label came to London and said; “Anastacia is working on a new record; can you do some stuff?” and so I was like; “Yeah! She’s got an awesome voice!”
Who else would you love to have the chance to work with?
As a producer I would love to write something for Micheal Jackson and more stuff for Britney or Kanye West - who does produce his own stuff but I like to work with people who make music for people to dance to.
So which do you prefer doing the most: Recording your own music to sing or producing for other people?
I love them both - being in the studio is really fun and you can sit there in any old clothes because no one is watching you and you get that initial feeling of wow, I can’t wait until someone hears this. But at the same time I like to go out on stage and hear the audience sing back and see the reaction to the music.
Where would you like to be ten years from now?
I think that - and this is where my private school breeding come in - it’s not really the best look to be running around on stage when you’re older.
Tell that to Madonna!
Well she sort of works out a lot and is toned up but there are some guys out there who are a little bit older and are 45 and dressing like they’re still 19. Either give it up or slip it up a notch and start wearing suits and singing ballads!
I think in 10 years or when I get older I would stick to being a producer because you still get to do all the young, hip music but you leave it to the youngsters to perform it.
We ask every musician we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview and
Anastacia wants to know who was your first kiss?
Wow, I’m not sure what her name was… I think it began with a K. It was with my girlfriend of about three days and it was at the back of the school bus on our way to a trip and you put a big coat over your head and kiss underneath it!
I wish it was still as innocent as that these days! Can you come up with a question for the next person I interview please?
If you had to delete someone from your phone book who would it be?
Ooh, I imagine that will give us an interesting answer…thanks Taio. See you later.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Tagged in Taio Cruz