Matt Cardle has come a long way since his X Factor days, ahead of the release of his latest single ‘Loving You’, a duet with Melanie C and his forthcoming album, Matt takes time out to chat to ANDY HOWELLS.

How did the single with Melanie C come about?

We basically met at the Isle of Wight Festival last year. Mel was playing on the same stage as me so we had a quick chat then.

I then met her this year at a Cancer Research fundraiser. We swapped numbers and I invited her to my concert in London in May. We spoke after the showabout writing together. I then had an idea with my manager to rewrite a song I had been working on for over a year and turn it into a duet. We worked on it and then sent it to Mel. She loved it and the rest is… well, history!

Having enjoyed this duet, would you do more?

I’ve really enjoyed doing this with Mel! I’d love to do more but it has to be right. I’ll never do it just for the sake of it, or just to have somebody ‘cool’ on my record, if it’s not right for the song. I think both Mel’s and my voice go well together, so it feels appropriate.

How did the unplugged tour go?

That was fantastic, but feels like a lifetime ago! So much has happened since then and it was only 3 months ago. I got to play some beautiful venues across the UK and it was great rearranging the songs into a stripped-back format, which is actually howmany of them were originally written.

Can you tell us more about your forthcoming album?

I’mreally excited about this album. Something has just happened this time around with the writing, where I believe I’ve written my best to date. There’s a real nostalgic flavour to many of the tracks. There’s some beautiful love songs on there, but equally there is so much attitude on some of the tracks. There’s a great variety!

You’ve got some acoustic festival appearances planned soon. Do you enjoy performing live?

That’s what it is all about for me. Getting out there and singing live. I probably don’t do it as much as I would like as I spend so much time in the studio and then promoting.

There should be plenty of time next year though as I will leave it a little longer until my fourth album.

What’s been your best live experience?

Playing the Hotel Café in Los Angeles was pretty surreal! It’s where Adele and John Mayer performed their first U.S.

shows, so I was honoured to have been invited. A fantastic crowd came down to that show, I was thrilled.

Who or what inspires you most as a performer?

It sounds so corny, but real life inspires me, or at least my lyrics. If it didn’t happen to me, then I can’t write or sing about it.

Musically, all the music I’ve listened to since I was younger. Michael Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, Peter Gabriel and Rage Against The Machine, to name a few.

Finally, what was the first record you ever bought?

Michael Jackson – Bad.

That was, and is, such a classic. Who would release something like that now? What a genius.