The syntax-mangling former Pussycat Doll on being Simon Cowell’s ‘angel’ – and how her X Factor success sparked a love affair with the British.

She’s late. Forty-five minutes to be exact and the word ‘diva’ flashes unkindly through my mind.   I am standing in the lobby of one of London’s smartest hotels, gazing hopefully out of the window when, at last, a huge black Rolls Royce pulls up outside.   A diva, of sorts, gets out but bizarrely it’s not Nicole Scherzinger but her X Factor boss Simon Cowell who breezes past me towards the lifts.

Five minutes later a people carrier arrives and Scherzinger steps out looking every inch the star in a figure-hugging black and white dress with Eighties-style, big curly hair.

Having stopped to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans, she apologises profusely for the delay and we head up in the lift to her room.

‘No way!’ she gasps, when I tell her who has just preceded her.

‘What’s he doing here in my hotel?’ She immediately whips out her iPhone from a dangerously expensive-looking handbag and starts texting Cowell.

 ‘Simon is both pompous and aloof and a sweet cuddly teddy bear at the same time,’ she grins having read his response. We are now settled on a sofa in her spacious room.

‘I’m the angel on one shoulder,’ she continues, ‘and on the other side is the devil, which is a reflection of himself in the mirror.

 ‘Seriously though, there’s something about Simon. He is absolutely someone who I would turn to for advice about the music business because in a way he has mentored me.

‘He always jokes that I’m ruthless but if I am I think I’ve learnt that from him. We have a lot in common because I’ve worked really hard to get where I am today and I know that he has too.’

Since making the switch from the X Factor USA two years ago, to replace Cheryl Cole as a judge in the UK version, Scherzinger has become a familiar face on British television screens.   She rose to fame in 2001 when she won an American TV talent show as the lead singer in a girl band called Eden’s Crush.

When the band split up, she became lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls (originally a burlesque group recast as recording artists), which went on to sell 40 million singles worldwide, with hits such as Don’t Cha and Stickwitu.

After Pussycat Dolls disbanded in 2010, Scherzinger went solo and has enjoyed similar stellar chart success.

These days, she is as renowned for her revealing outfits, forthright views and her on and off relationship with F1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton as she is for her music.

The 34-year-old’s easy-going charm has made her a firm favourite with X Factor contestants and viewers alike.

And it’s not all an act, either. It’s barely five minutes since we met and already any fears about diva-like behaviour are dispelled. She makes sure that I am fed and watered and is happy to answer questions with frank and often funny answers.

‘I’m no diva but I can be annoying in a recording studio,’ she says.

‘Of course I try to be a diva in terms of confidence of performance and owning a song but I’ve never behaved like one in terms of the negative connotations of the word.

‘The problem is I’m a perfectionist, so the producer might say he’s happy with my vocal take but I’ll say, “No, it can be better”. I’ll do it again and again until I feel I’ve got the truth out of a song.

‘I’ve always been too hard on myself to behave like I’ve arrived or even to enjoy whatever success I’ve had,’ she says.

‘I’ve always envisioned myself higher than  where I was and I still do. With each success I think, ‘That’s  nice but I’m  supposed to go there!’

‘So I always feel like I’ve still got a lot  of climbing to do. Maybe that explains why I’ve never had to have serious words  with myself about behaving like a diva.’

As if to prove a point, Scherzinger  is happy  to talk about her boyfriend Hamilton and her frequent visits to Grand Prix  circuits around the world.

‘I only go to a Grand Prix to support Lewis,’ she giggles. ‘I am in awe of Formula One because there is so  much money,  technology and talent, but as for the racing, it really is  like trying to  understand rocket science when I’m there, trackside.

‘For me there’s only ever one winner and a  lot of people would agree with me on that – Lewis is the best but there are  other factors like the  quality of engineering or the team behind him. Let’s  just say a lot of  your success can come down to the horse that you’re  riding.’

The conversation meanders back to  Cowell.  Her affection for him seems genuine.

‘Before I came over here to do the X Factor,  I had serious reservations. I sat down with Simon and  basically said, “Is  everything gonna be OK?” I was confident about the  work I was going to put into  judging and the experience that I was  bringing to the table, but it was the  British media that really worried  me.

‘I could see how  they were setting me up for  failure almost before I came here, so I was  looking for reassurance. Simon’s  phrase was, “Just be the star that you  are.” He insisted things would be fine  with the media over here as long  as I didn’t try to be anything but  myself.

‘His advice turned out to be spot-on. As soon  as I saw people react to me being outspoken, truthful and real  it opened the  floodgates for me. It turns out that understanding the  British public is not  rocket science.

‘The British appreciate honesty and they also  have a bonkers, off-the-wall  sense of humour like me. They brought out the “schermazing” in me’.

X Factor viewers will be familiar with her  ability to invent new words  and this one, she explains, is ‘like Scherzinger  and amazing rolled  into one.’

It would  appear her much-vaunted feud with  fellow X Factor judge Tulisa  Contostavlos is a fabrication mutually beneficial  for both the show and  the tabloids.

‘I genuinely admire Tulisa because I could  never have been an X Factor judge at 23 like she is,’ she says.

‘At that age I was still searching  for  myself and I cared way too much what people thought about me so I  wouldn’t have  been able to handle it.

‘Tulisa is very mature for her age  so she  really doesn’t care about what people think of her. Because she  holds her own,  she is very articulate and is genuinely herself. People  like that about  her.

‘In a  weird way The X Factor has brought out  the best in me. Being a judge has made me stop focusing on myself. I’ve been so  in my own head as an  artist trying to progress my career that it’s been  refreshing to focus  on bringing the best out of someone else and energising  them rather than myself.

‘It sounds corny but I’m just glad I’ve got  to be of service in another kind of way.’

Having taken a break from being in her own  head, it’s now time for her to  return to her day job with a new single,  Boomerang. ‘It was played to me by a friend of mine when I was recording  recently in a studio with   Will.i.am,’ she explains.

‘I fell in love with it immediately because  it felt like something I had written. It’s about being thrown out of something  and coming back even stronger. That’s my life’s philosophy, my mantra.

She proceeds to offer a taste of her singing;  her voice, pure and plaintive, passes the audition with flying colours. ‘I have  no idea if it will be a hit,’ she adds hastily.

‘I never know if a song’s going to be  popular so I don’t select them with that in mind. All I can do is follow my  heart and my gut and go for songs that make me feel great.

‘If I had my way my albums would have 50  songs on them but they would be all over the place – all different colours,  feels, moods and styles. I have to rely on the judgement of the album producer,  so he’ll have a big say, and there’s also people I trust at my record label who  can help me.’

Scherzinger was born to a Filipino father and  a half-Hawaiian, half-Russian mother in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1985, when she was  six, her mother and her German stepfather Gary Scherzinger moved to Louisville,  Kentucky.

She traces her desire to sing back to her  first year there when her parents, despite having little money,  gave her a  cassette player and Whitney Houston’s debut album for  Christmas.

Houston’s  premature death in February last  year (she was found drowned in an hotel bath with cocaine, alcohol and various  prescription drugs in her  bloodstream) clearly remains a source of great  sadness.

‘The reason for my big hair today is that  I’ve just done a photo shoot as a tribute to Whitney, my musical idol,’ she  says.

‘Just thinking of Whitney’s death brings  tears to my eyes. I was lucky enough once to meet her briefly and just before  her death there was talk of us having dinner together.

‘I was at my house in the hills in LA when I  heard the news, not even ten minutes away from the hotel where she died. She was  one of the true greats and it’s so sad that her death couldn’t have been  prevented.’

Is she someone, who like Whitney, struggles  with the pressures of fame?

‘Well,’ she says, ‘not really. People say, “Oh man, you get money and it causes you all these problems”.

‘Quite the contrary. Money is a great luxury  and I can never have enough of it. That said, my people make fun of me because  unless I go on a very occasional,  once-every-couple-of-years shopping spree,  I’m really quite frugal.

‘If I had time to collect discount coupons  for a grocery store I would. My  family had no money when I was growing up so I  still have that mentality and I’m used to not spending it.

‘It’s really nice to have it and not  stress  and worry about it and to give it your family for the same  reason. I spend it  on my family, my home and I do allow myself a nice  car.’

Meanwhile, her efforts to go unnoticed tend  not to work.

‘If I want to go out shopping here in London  I’ll put my hair in a bun, wear no make-up and have the biggest Elton John  sunglasses on but it still won’t work.

‘Sometimes I just can’t understand how people  recognise me. It can be a hoot but it does mean I keep getting stopped by people  with camera phones and therefore I tend to get my stylist to do my shopping for  me.

There are drawbacks, however.

‘One thing I have noticed,’ she says, ‘is  that fame makes new family members come out of the woodwork – those good old  distant cousins. But that’s OK because it’s better to acknowledge you are in a  really blessed position and to give to them than harbour  resentment.’

I mention that from what I saw earlier in the  lobby that she seems to include the fans in her generosity.

‘Yeah, but I’m way better in person than I am  on things like Twitter,’ she adds. ‘I know Twitter is the best and fastest way  to connect with fans who really appreciate you but I’m still not cool with it – although I am trying!

‘I try my best but I’m a one-on-one person  and I don’t want to tell people I’m on the toilet or I just brushed my teeth. To  be honest, I miss the old Hollywood way of having some mystique about a  star.’

And with that our time is up. I do have one  last question though. What did Cowell text in reply?

‘Like I said honey,’ she says tapping the  side of her nose, ‘it’s all about the mystique.’

Source: Daily Mail