Taio Cruz: Inspirations? I pull them out of the air

MANILA, Philippines - Taio Cruz sent the international music charts into a spin with his dancefloor-ready chart-toppers Break Your Heart and Dynamite. Now he’s back to reclaim his lofty position with his third album TY.O. The Brit pop star has said in an interview that the title of his latest album was borne out of his frustration over the constant incorrect pronunciation of his name.

Apparently, something good came out of that as the 28-year-old singer-songwriter was able to work on a record that also enlisted the help of today’s topnotch hitmakers, including Ludacris and David Guetta (Little Bad Girl), Pitbull (There She Goes),and Flo Rida on the Dr. Luke-produced lead track Hangover. The video for the latter premiered on Vevo worldwide last month and has accumulated over 13.6 million views. Here are excerpts from the interview:

You’re starting the coming 2012 in a huge way with a brand new album, TY.O — why did you choose that title?

So, the title for my new album is TY.O and it’s simple, you know, it’s two reasons. One, I just wanted to have a very simple album title but at the same time a lot of people seem to get my name wrong. I get very many different variations. I get Tay-O a lot, that’s probably the most obvious on. But sometimes I get Tow-ai, I get Tow, I get Tee-O, I get millions and millions of different variations so this is just the phonetic pronunciation of my name. So, “TY.O.”

Although it’s most definitely a dance album it feels like there are lots of different sounds on the album. Was it important to have that diversity?

Whenever I make albums I always try to throw in different styles of music and make it diverse without going too far. It definitely has elements of dupstep, elements of hip-hop, elements of rock, elements of Latin vibes, and Caribbean vibes in it and we just thought I’d completely throw as much as possible into the pot and make it sound as cool as possible.

You worked with some amazing names on your last album, Rokstarr. Who have you worked with this time around?

Yeah, well Rokstarr definitely was an album that had a lot of female features on so this album has a lot of male features on which I didn’t realize until I looked back at it, that all the features were male so we have David Guetta, we have Ludacris, Pitbull, Flo Rida. Who I love. So it’s very exciting, the songs are all very cool and catchy.

Have you written all the songs on the album?

I’ve written every song on the album and had some co-write help as well and some co-production help, so it’s great. I worked with some amazing people like Dr Luke, who I did Dynamite with, and Red One, who everyone knows from Lady Gaga and his other multiple smash hit songs. So yeah, it’s been good, I think we’ve written some very good songs.

Where did you find your inspiration this time around?

I kind of pull inspirations from out of the air. I think I’m always inspired by everything so it comes to me without thinking about it, it comes in a very subconscious way. I don’t, like, specifically draw from something so it’s just everyday life and living and hanging out. It just comes out randomly.

There were so many massive songs on The Rokstarr Collection that it was almost like a greatest hits record — do you have a favorite track?

I don’t think I have a personal favorite on the Rokstarr album, I really like them all. I like every single song, you know, I love Break Your Heart, I love Dynamite, I love Higher, I love Dirty Picture and the songs that people haven’t heard, you know, songs like Feel You and songs like Keep Going and Only You. So I love them all.

Do you have favorite places to visit and where would you say you have the craziest fans?

I think my craziest fans are probably in Budapest. They were very excited. I liked them a lot. They had my name written all over themselves, on their arms and on their foreheads and everything. It was mad. And they were just so excited to see me, it was great. But I always look forward to going to pretty much any city, especially ones I haven’t been to before just to see the fans and see how the music is doing out there. 

You’ve had to relocate to Los Angeles because your US success has been so huge. Do you still consider the UK to be home and what do you miss most when you’re away?

I would definitely say that the UK is still definitely 100 percent my home. Even though I moved to L.A. I’m never there. I’m always on a plane, I’m always somewhere else so the only reason I moved to L.A. is simply because I have so much work to do there and it saves money on staying in hotels the whole time. But it’s great. My manager comes out to L.A. a lot and a lot of my friends come out so I get a lot of London energy when I’m there anyway, so I don’t feel like I’m that far away from home a lot of the time.

Would you say America has very much become your second home?

It definitely feels incredible that my music has been welcomed out there and that people and that people have responded so well to myself and to the music I make so it was unexpected but a pleasant surprise and I’m just trying to keep it going that’s all. I’ll just keep putting out good music and hopefully people will still be enjoying it.

You started out writing and producing for people like the Pussycat Dolls. Has it been strange to step out from behind the scenes to be a performer in your own right?

I think it’s different but I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. To be an artist over being a songwriter, I think you know, it’s just double the work because I haven’t really stopped being a songwriter, too, so you kind of now have to share your time a little bit differently. So, it’s an adjustment and I think I’m adjusting better to it now. You know when I first started I was bombarded a little bit with that and the incredible success in America so it’s an adjustment of flying all around and still being able to write music for yourself and others but I think I’m getting my head around it.

You’ve become known as a hit maker. What’s the secret to your success?

I don’t know, I guess I’m just blessed with the ability to…well, I think I’m just blessed with the love of pop music. I think you have to really love pop music to kind of write pop songs. And then I’m very, very fortunate to have good people around and yeah, I think that’s it, I really think that’s it.

What would you say are the elements that make up a classic Taio sound?

I think you’ve got to keep the song simple, you’ve got to keep the sentiment clear. I always try to make sure that it’s easy for people to understand what you’re saying in the song and it not be too complicated so if I’m writing a song about a hangover, I might say “I’ve got a hangover.” Or if I’m writing a song about breaking hearts, I might say, “I’m only going to break your heart.” So really that’s all, if I have a secret it’s just to keep it simple.

Is there a specific way that you like to write?

I write on my laptop nowadays just so that when I’m finished I can e-mail the lyrics off to people and usually I have a few…like on my computer I have a Dictaphone open and I play the track at the same time and I just vibe out, come up with some melody ideas first, so just come up with anything, I just mumble over the song for a minute and then when I hear something cool then we go back and pick out the cool bits and then sort of write to that.

You’ve found success as a writer, producer and performer. Where would you say you’re happiest?

I’d say that I’m happiest in the creative process of it all. I really like being able to write songs.