Perhaps the Beyonce of Pop group The Wanted, R&B singer Nathan Sykes sails towards solo glory this year, currently gearing up for the release of a solo album set for takeoff one year after the group announced its hiatus.

Now, armed with a voice that’s already won over the likes of Diane Warren, Babyface and ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande, the singer catches up with ‘Hunger’ to spill details on the Harmony Samuels-backed release.

Tuck in, below…

On the album’s direction:

I’m not going to be one of those people who tries to claim they are not making pop music when they actually are so whereas parts of my sound may not be traditional straight down the line pop music or the pop music people heard from The Wanted, I’m still classing this as a pop album. It was never my mission to do something unexpected, I just wrote music and didn’t set any limits and if I’m completely honest I have even surprised myself! I think the album has got quite a wide variety of music within the genre if that makes sense. While I’ve kept this as a pop album, I have tried to make something for everyone and have elements of soul, funk, Motown, dance, straight down the line commercial pop, some more stripped back acoustic tracks and there are a couple of piano ballads on there as well. I just wanted to make an album that people can really enjoy and that will also translate really well into a live show as I feel that having a great live show is just as important as having a great album.

On his influences:

I have tried to keep the album as feel good as possible but I think I had quite a lot of raw emotion in 2014 so I ended up baring my soul in a few of the tracks! My favourite moment on the album is the transition between possibly the most feel good track I have that has a bit of a throw back vibe to it to a ballad where I basically pour my heart out over the space of four minutes! While the majority of the tracks have a “love element” to them, I also touched upon the time between the end of the wanted and the start of my solo music when I knew that timing was everything and that I needed to take my time to create something that I have dreamed of making and something that I could be really proud of.

I could go on forever about music that I love but while I love all of the older stuff like Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke etc I also love how Labrinth has taken influence from those guys and made the most amazing track with “Let It Be”. I’m also really inspired by Ryan Tedder, Jamie Cullum, Boyz II Men and John Legend.

Nathan’s debut single is set for release this spring and will be followed by a parent album which boasts an executive producer in the aforementioned Harmony…also responsible for the success of Ariana Grande‘s debut set.

He had this to say when quizzed on the connection:

At the start of the process I made a list of dream producers and song writers I would love to work with which included Harmony Samuels, Babyface and Diane Warren, all of whom wanted to work with me, which was amazing. Having already worked with Harmony on the track “Almost Is Never Enough” with Ariana Grande, he really helped me create the sound and he’s now the Executive Producer on the album and together we have created some of my favourite tracks on the album.

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