Read our chat with the Boomerang star…

Nicole Scherzinger, welcome to 4music.com! Tell us about your new tune Boomerang (on course to hit No 1 this weekend). Is it true you’ve been waiting ages to release this track?

Well yeah, I got the song last summer and I knew that once X Factor started, I’d be committed to the show and wouldn’t have time to release music. So I have been sitting on it since summer and I just waited. I wanted to wait for the right time. I was so invested and committed to the show and contestants, but now I think it’s a brand new year and this song has a great message to get out there right now. It’s positive, it’s uplifting.

What was it like working with will.i.am on both this track and your forthcoming album too?

He’s bonkers, you know. Like really bonkers. will.i.am and I just had this idea that we were gonna have a load of fun together and record an album together. He’s just… oh god, how can I explain him… He’s like Hawaiian punch and espresso in one. Very sweet, lots of energy, all over the place. He’s just brilliant. He doesn’t over-think, he just goes for it. His energy is so great to be around.

So is the album complete or are you still working on bits?

Yeah, I’m still working on the album. So far all the songs I’ve done lend themselves to big dance anthems – really fun, really energetic, you know. They’re energizing, I like to say. Good to work out to and get you motivated for the day ahead. But I’m still in the studio so I’ll make sure I have a good mixture on the album, do some more personal songs too.

We’ve obviously got to talk X Factor…

Hell yeah, let’s go.

Right first of all, there’s still no word on your return to the judging panel for 2013?

Ha! Exactly. I don’t know. There’s been no talks. I really don’t know.

But you did really enjoy it last year and would be up for it again, right?

Well, I didn’t just enjoy it but it was one of the proudest moments for me so far in my career. Just to be a part of such a show and having success through mentoring and leading my contestants, it was amazing. I would dance around with the idea of coming back, you know. We still have to have the talks but I gave it my all. The proof is in the pudding, I gave it my all.

Who would make up your ideal X Factor judging line-up?

Ha!! Oh my god… I don’t know…

We won’t count fellow judges Tulisa, Gary or Louis, you’ve now got a clean slate to create an entirely new panel…

(screams) OH MY GOD! I love this game. I’d have like Jack Black because he loves music. I adore Tenacious D. I feel like me and Jack Black would have lots of fun. Maybe we’ll throw will.i.am in there too. He’d be good. But what other female? Someone who is fun… Who is fun?

Beyonce? Nicki Minaj? Pink? Britney Spears?

(shakes head to the first three, raises an eyebrow at the fourth) Dawn French! She’d be fun. But, you know, I’m going for Sharon Osbourne. I like her a lot.

Really? There could be fireworks again with her back on the panel though. She’s quite feisty, right?

Oh yeah, that’s my lady right there. I’d love her on X Factor.

You’ve said the UK is like a second home for you in the past. Is it still that much treasured second home even though X Factor has finished?

It’s my second home, definitely. I just love it. I spend most of my time here and the people are so nice and welcoming. The UK rocks.

Great news, because we’ve devised a little quiz to find out just how British you actually are. You’re always offloading your made-up words on us, so let’s see how many of these British-isms you actually recognise…

Oh no! What if I don’t know anything? You guys have the… I don’t know why you guys give my words the time of day, my little Scherzisms, because you guys have the best words ever in your language…

Serious faces all around, the quiz is about to begin. What is toad in the hole?

(silence alongside a disapproving look) That just sounds wrong. Totally wrong. Is that an egg in a piece of bread?

That’s actually quite close, in a way. It’s sausages in giant Yorkshire puddings.

Oh… (visualizing the dish) Ooh OK, I get it. That sounds fun. I’ll remember that.

Next phrase: Apples and pears. What does it mean?

Ah, now I’ve heard this one… Ugh, I don’t know. This is that Cockney talk, right?

Indeed! It means stairs. To go up the apples and pears is to go up the stairs. Finally though, what does it mean to spend a penny?

Oh I’m not good at this at all. I have no idea. You’re going to have to tell me.

Well it means to go to the toilet. So if you were sat on the X Factor panel and you were bursting, you could just turn to Tulisa and say “I’m just going to spend a penny”.

What?! What is going on here?! That has no relation to the bathroom and I’m not saying that to Tulisa! I’ll just say take a wee.

But that doesn’t sound glamorous, does it? You can’t just turn to Tulisa and say you’re about to take a wee!

You know in America we say restroom but you guys just say toilet. That’s dirty. When you say toilet, you just think of an actual toilet. Not good at all. I’m not saying toilet and I’m not saying spending pennies either.

Anyway, thanks for engaging in toilet-talk with us Scherzinger. Our time with you is now up. We’ll leave you to go powder your nose in the restroom. Or bog. Does that sound more glamorous?

Nicole Scherzinger’s new single Boomerang is out now.

Source: 4 Music