Perdita
21-05-2009, 08:16
Rotund tenor Paul Potts shot to fame in 2007 after he took a break from flogging mobile phones in Port Talbot to go and sing on Britain's Got Talent. His breathtaking performance of 'Nessun Dorma' left the nation lifting their collective jaw from the floor and eventually won him the ITV1 show crown. Since then, his debut LP One Chance has reached number one in 13 countries, he's met Oprah Winfrey, the Prime Minister and performed for the Queen at the Royal Variety. With his second album out next month, we caught up with Paul to find out how he's handling the fame.
Do you feel any added pressure after the overwhelming success of One Chance?
"I think there's extra pressure on any artist for their second album. With the first one, it's just about establishing yourself. I've had more time with this record. The first album was made very, very quickly. It was completed in just one week after the show. So it is fantastic to now have an album out that I've had a lot more time to plan and one that I have had more influence over."
You've had a year to work on this second album. How did that change things?
"I've just had much more influence over the arrangements and content. We've had time to work things out properly and I've also had more time to work on individual tracks. My first day of recording on One Chance was 14 hours long. That was a big deal after never doing it before. It was great to spend more time and not record more than one track in a day. That's meant that this time around, we've been able to dedicate a lot more energy to each individual song."
Why did you pick the title Passione for the new album?
"Well it's Italian for passion and singing has always been a great passion of mine. Also, the album is about passion. It's about all those emotions that we go through in life. You have the happiness of meeting someone you love for the first time, which is symbolised by the beautiful song 'La Prima Volta (First Time I Ever Saw Your Face)' that was originally sung by Roberta Flack. Then there is the sadness of loving someone and losing someone in 'Tristesse', which is based on a piece by Frédéric Chopin. There are just many different emotions on the album from love and loss right though to despair, hope and happiness."
How did you decide on what tracks you would cover?
"We started when I was touring around North America last year, when I was just listening to a lot of music. I sent about three CDs with about 60, 70 tracks to the record company to start the dialogue about what we might do. We trimmed that number down to an album, but we also left the door open for new ideas. When we were actually recording it 'Tristesse' just came up in the studio and also 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' was a suggestion from Simon [Cowell] in the first sessions. While we were in the studio, we tested demos and it all worked quite organically in the selection process."
How often do you meet up with Simon?
"I speak to Simon reasonably regularly. He is a very busy man so we don't get to meet up in person all that often, but we do chat quite a lot. He has told me that he is really, really happy with this album and said that I should be really proud of the work that I've done in the last few years. It's always great to get feedback from Simon because he always tells it like it is. It's important that people tell you what they really think about music, because false praise is better than no praise at all. Simon doesn't give cheap praise, so when he does compliment you it's a really good thing to come across."
How are plans for the Paul Potts movie coming along?
"I have had a meeting with Justin Zackham, the guy who wrote the screenplay for The Bucket List so it might be happening. I never assume anything until it actually happens and it is still in fairly early stages at the moment. But I met some guys from Paramount when I was in LA and they seem pretty serious about it. But things like this often go very quite for a while and then explode. It's still on, but I will only truly believe it when it completely happens."
Have you had any ideas about casting yet?
"I think the cast is something that will be left down to the film company because they will have a better idea than I do. But I would be very interested to know who they'd get to play me. I've always joked about it with my wife. She always says that she would like to play herself and that Johnny Depp should play me. I don't think many wives would turn that down."
Have you been keeping up to date with this year's Britain's Got Talent?
"I've been away for the whole period so I haven't seen a full episode, but I've seen bits of pieces on YouTube. I've seen Susan Boyle, Flawless and Holly. I think it's going to be an interesting year this year. I think it will be quite close and I don't think it's sewn up yet at all. They are all coming up to the live shows soon and that is a very daunting period of the show. But you simply have to enjoy every moment."
Paul Potts' second album Passione is released on June 1..
Is it really two years since he won :eek:
Do you feel any added pressure after the overwhelming success of One Chance?
"I think there's extra pressure on any artist for their second album. With the first one, it's just about establishing yourself. I've had more time with this record. The first album was made very, very quickly. It was completed in just one week after the show. So it is fantastic to now have an album out that I've had a lot more time to plan and one that I have had more influence over."
You've had a year to work on this second album. How did that change things?
"I've just had much more influence over the arrangements and content. We've had time to work things out properly and I've also had more time to work on individual tracks. My first day of recording on One Chance was 14 hours long. That was a big deal after never doing it before. It was great to spend more time and not record more than one track in a day. That's meant that this time around, we've been able to dedicate a lot more energy to each individual song."
Why did you pick the title Passione for the new album?
"Well it's Italian for passion and singing has always been a great passion of mine. Also, the album is about passion. It's about all those emotions that we go through in life. You have the happiness of meeting someone you love for the first time, which is symbolised by the beautiful song 'La Prima Volta (First Time I Ever Saw Your Face)' that was originally sung by Roberta Flack. Then there is the sadness of loving someone and losing someone in 'Tristesse', which is based on a piece by Frédéric Chopin. There are just many different emotions on the album from love and loss right though to despair, hope and happiness."
How did you decide on what tracks you would cover?
"We started when I was touring around North America last year, when I was just listening to a lot of music. I sent about three CDs with about 60, 70 tracks to the record company to start the dialogue about what we might do. We trimmed that number down to an album, but we also left the door open for new ideas. When we were actually recording it 'Tristesse' just came up in the studio and also 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' was a suggestion from Simon [Cowell] in the first sessions. While we were in the studio, we tested demos and it all worked quite organically in the selection process."
How often do you meet up with Simon?
"I speak to Simon reasonably regularly. He is a very busy man so we don't get to meet up in person all that often, but we do chat quite a lot. He has told me that he is really, really happy with this album and said that I should be really proud of the work that I've done in the last few years. It's always great to get feedback from Simon because he always tells it like it is. It's important that people tell you what they really think about music, because false praise is better than no praise at all. Simon doesn't give cheap praise, so when he does compliment you it's a really good thing to come across."
How are plans for the Paul Potts movie coming along?
"I have had a meeting with Justin Zackham, the guy who wrote the screenplay for The Bucket List so it might be happening. I never assume anything until it actually happens and it is still in fairly early stages at the moment. But I met some guys from Paramount when I was in LA and they seem pretty serious about it. But things like this often go very quite for a while and then explode. It's still on, but I will only truly believe it when it completely happens."
Have you had any ideas about casting yet?
"I think the cast is something that will be left down to the film company because they will have a better idea than I do. But I would be very interested to know who they'd get to play me. I've always joked about it with my wife. She always says that she would like to play herself and that Johnny Depp should play me. I don't think many wives would turn that down."
Have you been keeping up to date with this year's Britain's Got Talent?
"I've been away for the whole period so I haven't seen a full episode, but I've seen bits of pieces on YouTube. I've seen Susan Boyle, Flawless and Holly. I think it's going to be an interesting year this year. I think it will be quite close and I don't think it's sewn up yet at all. They are all coming up to the live shows soon and that is a very daunting period of the show. But you simply have to enjoy every moment."
Paul Potts' second album Passione is released on June 1..
Is it really two years since he won :eek: