Taio Cruz is the hottest new singer around but he's also been bagged for his producing skills by Simon Cowell, Busta Rhymes and Beyonce, to name a few. He's a bit of a charmer too, as we found out! Click through to the end of the interview to see our exclusive video with him too!

Your new single She’s Like A Star is out August 18th. What’s the song all about?
She’s Like a star is about, it has a double meaning, it’s about my girlfriend but it’s also about how you would feel if you had a child and how strongly you would feel if you had a daughter and how overwhelming the love would be and they would kind of be like a star, you know like she’s my everything, she’s an angel, so it’s just kind of explaining that.

How did you get Roxanne McKee who plays Louise in Hollyoaks to appear in your video?
It was cool, I’ve known Roxanne for a little while now and when I asked her if she wanted to be in my video, she was like yeah why not. So we went out to Spain and kind of make believe canoodled for a little bit, so there was a little bit of acting there, but yeah it was really good fun. It was quite weird because she’s got a boyfriend and I’ve got a girlfriend, so it was a bit strange but we’re good friends so it was fine. We just turned on the act.

Why did you call your album Departure? Were you planning on leaving some place?
No, Departure is like a metaphor for the first outing of my album. It’s sort of like when you’re waiting at the airport for your plane to leave, and you’re waiting in the departure lounge, it feels like you’ve been waiting forever and then you get on the plane and you’ve gotta sit there for ages and you’re like ‘finally we’re leaving!’ and finally you’ve taken off.

We heard that Rihanna’s Umbrella was actually meant for you… is that true?
Yes it was given to me and I thought it was a hit but it was given to some people and they didn’t really think it was that much of a hit and so basically the writer ended up giving it to Rihanna instead. It would have been fun if it was my song though! 

Is it true that Corinne Bailey Rae is trying to sue you? What did you do to upset her?
Nothing. She seems to think that the sample I’ve got in She’s Like a Star is her voice, so her lawyers called up and were like ‘Taio’s in breech of copyright’ and all this stuff and we were like ‘no I’m not’. So we got a musicologist to test it, even though we knew it wasn’t her, but we got the musicologist to legally testify to the fact that it’s not her. It’s not a copy of hers and we’re not in breech of copyright so that should all be over with now.

You've been working with Shane and Leona on Simon Cowell's request - wow! How is that going?
I’ve done four songs for Shane, which are awesome, and two songs for Leona, but she hasn’t heard them yet. Shane loves all of his songs though, which is really cool!

You're now also a hot property producer and we hear you’ve been working on songs for Britney, Justin and Brandy. Can you reveal to us anything about those tracks yet?
No….I don’t really wanna spoil what they’re gonna be like, what the sounds gonna be. But they’re gonna be good pop songs that you guys are used to, and I think Britney is gonna be staying a little bit in the reign of the Blackout album, of the same sound, because I still thinks it works really well right now - it would be really cool to stick to that sound.

You began as a producer, so what made you move into the spotlight?
I just wanted to see how I would be received with me singing my songs. I’ve been singing since I was a kid and have always wanted to hear my songs on the radio, so after writing and producing with other people and kind of getting the style and setting up my own record label I just thought why not? I thought I’d see how people accept me and everyone seems to like it, but I don’t get any of that evil paparazzi trying to take pictures of my underwear or anything, which is good.

Click next to find out what Taio thinks of celebs...