Former 'X Factor' star Chico Slimani joins us to talk about his upcoming TV show, hanging out with Ant and Dec, his new role as a father and Dustin's Eurovision chances!
Linda McGee: You've a new album coming out soon. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Chico Slimani: Yes, I've a new album. It's called 'Lights, Camera, Action' and it's going to be 13 tracks, most of the tracks written by myself. There are two unbelievable tracks that are written by others. One is called 'Are You in It for Love?' and that's going to be my new single. That was written by a guy called Paul Barry. He's a Grammy winner, basically. This song was actually given to Ricky Martin and he passed on it because he wanted to change his musical style. It was a great opportunity for me, to jump on it and take it. There's also another song called 'Let Me Stay with You', by another Grammy winner, who worked with Whitney Houston, Usher, you know, all the greats - and he's called Gordon Chambers. And they're two fantastic tracks. The album is really good.
LM: What kind of a sound can we expect from your new material? Is it pop/dance music?
CS: It's pop with a Latin flavour. It's pop. It's Latin. It's got a little Arabic flavour because I'm Moroccan so I thought I'd get a bit of an Eastern flow into it. It's got all sorts. It's got up high-energy songs to ballads. I've got three ballads on there. People haven't heard me sing ballads so I think they're going to be very pleasantly surprised.
LM: So is it all touring from here on in to promote the new album?
CS: Yeah, it's been insane. I've probably only had about a month off in two-and-a-half years so it's been pretty busy.
LM: And you're working on a couple of TV projects at the moment - how did that come about?
CS: Yeah, at the moment I'm doing 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'. They invited me to go on there about a year ago to do something and I just got on really well with them - they're beautiful guys, really, really nice guys - they said to me: 'Look, if we've got anything in the future, would you mind doing it?' And I said: 'I'd absolutely love to do anything that you have in mind'.
LM: Has it been great fun every week or is it challenging?
CS: Aw, I've not had this much fun in ages. To get to do the very things that you look at and you'd love to do, but now you're doing it, it's documented, it's on TV and you get paid for it. It's fabulous. I love it. After six weeks I'll be ticking off so many things from those 50 things to do in your life lists and a lot of them have already been done.
LM: You've been in the media a lot lately in connection with your decision to fight against size zero. Why did you choose to fight this battle?
CS: That's right. It was because of my last single 'Curvy Cola Bottle Body'. It's a song empowering the curvaceous lady because size zero is a new epidemic sweeping women as a whole and what it is... Actually I was walking past a primary school and I saw a bunch of eight-year-olds, fighting with each other, saying: 'who is going to be a size zero?' and 'I'm going to be a size zero'. It absolutely shocked me. So we teamed up with Beat, which is the leading UK eating disorder charity, and the statistics are horrendous. It's crazy.
LM: And you thought you could help?
CS: I thought: 'Right, Chico - cheeky lyrics but let's have a message because even 'Chico Time' said: "you can get delirious if you take life too serious". This one was: "Size zero's gotta go, give me Marilyn Monroe. A little bit of J-Lo, Beyoncé's got the flow, Shakira shakes it more. One things for sure - Size zero's out the door."
LM: 
So you wanted to get a message across in a fun kind of way?
CS: That's right, and we raised a lot of awareness and we had a lot of responses from a lot of people. There were so many people writing to me saying that they'd had eating disorders and problems with families. One I received was from a mother of a 12-year-old, who said that they saw their child literally disintegrate in front of them and they couldn't do anything about it. And once the song came out - and she's a big fan - her mother said that because you think that curvy is cool she might start to put the weight back on. To me that was my Number One.
LM: In relation to future plans, what's next on the list? Any big ambitions that you want to tick off the list?
CS: Myself and my brother, we've been doing film for quite a while. We already did a short film that got us a BAFTA nomination and we're working on a film that's going to be probably shooting early next year. We've also got a TV show coming up, a Chico-type TV show. I'm really looking forward to it.
LM: Can you tell us a bit about the new TV show?
CS: Basically, I'm a dream-maker. It's a cross between 'Jim'll Fix It' and 'My Kind of People', with music thrown in for good measure, and little twists where people compete against each other. It's making dreams come true, but having a whole heap of fun doing it.
LM: In the past your name had been mentioned in connection to the Eurovision. Is that something you would consider?
CS: I was asked to do it this year, as in to go for the six who compete for the place. I had too many commitments to do it this year.
LM: 
But it is something you'd like to do in the future?
CS: I wouldn't mind doing it. I never say no to anything. The English have not really been known to produce something great for quite a while as far as songs are concerned so I said to them that if I was going to do it, it would have to be a credible song - a decent song, it can't be bubblegum cheesy stuff. And then at least if you go out there and do it, it can't be knocked as a song. People might have an opinion about you but as a song they shouldn't knock it. My best friend Andy Abraham has entered with his own song and I'm so proud of him. He's doing so great. The song is fantastic and he's a great singer.
LM: Have you heard Ireland's Eurovision entry, Dustin, yet?
CS: Oh, the puppet? I actually read it in the newspaper - it's something to do with a puppet, right? And apparently he's huge in Ireland. He's actually had albums out and stuff.
LM: 
Do you think the novelty element will work?
CS: I think that's fantastic. The Irish have got a funky sense of humour. Put it this way, you know that he's going to go in there and he's going to get noticed. And that's what it's about. Hopefully he gets noticed.
LM: Are you still in touch with the people you met through 'The X Factor'?
CS: Yeah. I'd get in touch with everybody, Brenda - she's doing 'Chicago', Maria Lawson - she's just had a baby.
LM: So no regrets about the whole 'X Factor' experience?
CS: There are no regrets. The only regrets I have are the things I could have done that I didn't do. No, it's been amazing, what a journey. I haven't stopped since.
LM: Do you still enjoy watching 'The X Factor'?
CS: Oh yes, of course I do. I report on it sometimes for GMTV and certain papers and magazines that ask me. I do watch it a lot. I do love it. It's compulsive viewing.
LM: When you're on the road all the time, do you find it very difficult being away from your family and friends, especially since you became a father?
CS: When I travel away to Ireland or Scotland or somewhere like that I normally stay over but if I'm just in England I normally travel back because I like to wake up in my own bed and say hello to my little baby. She's absolutely gorgeous, pure joy. I love fatherhood. It's the best thing in the world.
Watch Chico's recent interview and performance on The Café here.
For more on Chico's music projects check out his website here.
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