Taio Cruz: Breaking Charts As Well As Hearts

Q: Was there a point where you had to choose between being a successful producer in the US, joining Red Zone or taking a risk and becoming a performer instead?

A: I had technically made my choice. I was just going to be a producer, and I was in there with the big guys, Tricky, Dallas Austin - every other day someone like Janet Jackson would come through the door, I met Ciara and Usher and all those people were hanging out at the studio, but at the same time everybody was always asking me to put stuff out. So I thought I'd just put a song out with no expectations, I just thought it'd be kind f cool to know that I'd put something out and that people had heard my voice and stuff. And really the first thing I put out blew up and really became huge. I had record companies calling me up and it was on rotation on radio. It was mad, a huge jump, I never expected.

Q: Did it happen really fast from there?

A: Well it took two months or so - I put it out first and I have a ten to twelve week cycle of songs. The first four weeks it bubbles underground and the cool DJs are playing it, then it breaks through to the more mainstream DJs and then they start rocking it. It was getting absolutely rinsed on Kiss, then it started playing Capital then Sirius radio in LA and from there it was crazy hearing it in nightclubs etc. It was at that point I was getting calls from Universal music and stuff, and they were like 'we want to hire you because we like what you're doing. That sort of made the choice for me.

Q: Who've been the best people to work with in the studio?

A: OK, without being diplomatic, but sounding diplomatic, they're all really cool. And we all share the same dream and we've wanted to be musicians and artists from a very young age. There hasn't been anyone yet I've heard there are a few nightmare people but I've not worked with them.

Q: Would you consider working with someone even if they had a reputation as difficult?

A: It depends. If they're a musical genius but they're a nightmare then I'll deal with it. If they're just a nightmare, then no way.

Q: You have worked with some alumni of UK TV talent show 'The X Factor' - how did you become involved with that? Are you affiliated with Simon Cowell's record label, Syco, or Sony at all?

A: I really wish I were! Then I'd be extremely rich. But no, Simon seems to be a fan of my music which is good. Or a fan of my first album anyway, which is amazing. But also the guys at Syco are always calling up and telling me they want me to work on their new artists all the time. That's how I came to working on JLS, Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and that.

Q: Would you write for the winner of 'The X Factor' this year?

A: Assuming that they were good yeah. I watched it this week.

Q: What's it like working with Cheryl Cole?

A: Well I wrote a couple of songs and sent them over to her people - one of them was 'Break Your Heart', the other was stand up, and her record company heard it and I guess they were dilly dallying a little bit. Will.i.am is a really big name and I think is doing quite a lot of records for them, so they came back around too late and they were too late for 'Break Your Heart', so I had thought we've not heard anything back from them, so we put it out as me.

Q: Are you glad you kept hold of that one for yourself?

A: Yeah. I think I've got songs on the album that, fingers, crossed would have done just as well. And if not, I would have written something else. The song I wrote for Cheryl's album, 'Stand Up', I think could be a smash. I also liked the song I wrote for Tinchy and Amelle, I kept writing them and the record company kept shouting at me because I kept giving all the songs away.

Q: Do you get precious about your work, or are you always comfortable with writing songs and giving them to other people?

A: I'm not really precious like that. I started off as a songwriter and producer so I'm happy to write songs and happy for them to be out, whether it's me singing or somebody else, like - I want them to be hugely successful, so if that means that someone else has to sing it. If it's a case of shall I give it to Britney Spears or shall I do it myself, well I think to myself, at the moment, I'm big in the UK, Britney is big worldwide, so...

Q: Which of your songs are you most proud of?

A: The Will Young single 'Your Game', which I won the BRIT award for, then my first number one record, which is the one I wrote for Tinchy and Amelle, then my second number one record, 'Break Your Heart', my first number one album with Cheryl Cole then my second number one album with JLS.

Q: How did you get involved with Tinchy Stryder?

A: Literally, they just asked me from the record company. I am good friends with the president of Island, and he had a new artist, and he said, 'I have this beat but I don't like the chorus, could you write a new chorus for it?' I'm a bit against being 'urban', I don't like that tag. I just think it's a politically correct way of saying 'black'. I just don't like being put into a box, as I make pop music, even if I did a rock song people would call it 'urban rock', which just means 'black rock'. I was a bit iffy about doing too many things which are too 'urban', but I'm a fan of good music, and he sent me the record and I really liked it, and that kind of outweighs anything else.

By Andy Tillett

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