Taio Cruz: I have so many different facets
Taio Cruz: I have so many different facets
Friday, 08, Aug 2008 02:37
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talks to the 24-year-old ahead of the release of his new single, She's Like A Star.
He's already produced what Simon Cowell called "one of the best albums of the year" and with production work with talent show winners Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward, as well as writing for the new Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears album, Taio Cruz's star is on the rise.
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talks to the 24-year-old ahead of the release of his new single, She's Like A Star.
So you've got the new single out on 11th - is it inspired by anyone in particular?
My girlfriend! (laughs) But it's also written metaphorically, about if I had a daughter and how I would feel about her and the overwhelming love I would have for her.
She's Like A Star caused a legal wrangle with Corinne Bailey Rae - is that sorted?
It was more of a threat, firstly they threatened to delete my MySpace page, so I took the song down, even though I knew it wasn't a sample of her voice, and secondly, I had my musicologist check it out - even though I knew it wasn't a sample! - and he'd come into court if necessary, if it had ever got that far, and he wrote a report basically saying they were nothing like each other.
Talking about your sound as a whole - it seems to have changed since I Just Wanna Know? Come On Girl is a big change, for example. So why has it altered?
It hasn't, really. If you only see one side of a person, then you assume you know everything. If you saw someone shouting and screaming at their child because they were angry, you might think that was an evil person. And if you didn't see them for a whole year, you might only remember that that person was evil! (laughs) But if you saw another side, you might realise they were really nice. So, with I Just Wanna Know, you've only seen one side, but I have so many different facets.
Such as?
There's elements of rock on songs like Fly Away, full-on pop like I Can be, hip-hop with my rapping on She's Like A Star, R 'n' B like I Just Wanna Know, there's all these elements of me and until you hear the whole album, you can't really tell that.
Which element of you is Come On Girl?
I think it's my more dance side and I think I just wanted to show people on my first album where I'm coming from, whether it be pop, rock, dance, hip-hop, whatever. I still seem to get bracketed into R 'n' B though, which isn't what I feel I am.
You wouldn't describe yourself as an R 'n' B artist?
No, I'm a pop artist.
Time Out called you a cross between Babyface, JT and John Legend - comparisons you're happy with? They're all fairly different
Of course. I don't hear the John Legend that much! (laughs) As a compliment, I usually get compared to whoever the person complimenting me likes. So if they like John Legend, they'll say I'm a bit like him. So I usually just take it as that person's way of saying they like what I do.
Who have you been compared to negatively?
I've not really had that! (laughs) I remember one review I read which said something about the album being "extremely generic R 'n' B", which it absolutely isn't, but at the end of the thing, she said: "Go on, buy it, it's really good." Which was weird! (laughs)
If you had to pinpoint influences, who would you say? Is it a really long list?
Yes, very long. I love the melodies of Coldplay, elements of Keane and Arctic Monkeys, I just may not have shown that much of it on this album but you'll hear it on the second. I love R 'n' B and hip-hop too, Jay-Z, Kanye, Beyonce. But I think Newton Faulkner is awesome too. It's usually the pop-end of the music that I like. Newton Faulkner's quite folky but I wouldn't know who the underground version of him is.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Well, I had OneRepublic's album on repeat for a little while, then N*E*R*D's album, then the Teddybears. Sugababes as well, but that's because I was working with them! (laughs)
In regard to people you're working with - Simon Cowell approached you to work with Leona and Shayne - have you started yet?
I work with Leona in about a week or two but I've started with Shayne already - we've done four songs together and his stuff's sounding really awesome. It's just a cooler sound for him, in the way that Justin Timberlake broke out of that typical pop and moved it forward to a cooler element.
With Leona the plan is to do really big songs but with cool production.
Do you think artists like Leona and Shayne would have broken through without TV talent shows?
Not necessarily, because record companies are lazy! (laughs) They don't look for artists in that way anymore or develop acts, now they're just so used to having a band that already has a following and just taking that on.
That's really what those TV shows provide, they provide a fanbase of however many millions of people who've been watching it on TV. The record companies take that performer then get artists like myself to write tunes for them.
I also say that an artist isn't just a performer - the performer is like the gallery and the artist is whoever created the music.
Where do you personally draw the line between writing and performing?
If I had to choose, I'd be a writer and a producer because you have the freedom to do whatever you like. You can be whoever you want to be and switch genres from Monday to Tuesday without a problem
Finally, you've got your shows at V coming up - how do you think you'll go down with a festival crowd, if you're sometimes confused with an R 'n' B artist?
Well, my record company are always quite surprised to see what my fans look like. It's quite diverse, it's not. you know. hooded up black kids who rob people! (laughs) It's very much across the board, so I feel it'll go down pretty well. People who attend these festivals love pop music so if they hear Come On Girl, they'll be dancing along to it in the sun.
Lewis Bazley
Taio Cruz's new single She's Like A Star is released on August 11th
To watch the video, featuring Hollyoaks actress Roxanne McKee, click here