Shayne Ward has been working on new music in Nashville, Tennessee with a “country-pop” flavour.
The No Promises hitmaker, who shot to fame after winning the second series of ‘The X Factor’ in 2005, is currently celebrating his early pop career with an ‘Anthology’ box set, featuring expanded editions of his first three albums: ‘Shayne Ward’ (2006), ‘Breathless’ (2007) and ‘Obsession’ (2010).
Speaking in the December 2022 issue of Retro Pop magazine, the singer opened up about his early success, revealing: “I was surrounded instantly by some of pop’s top writers and producers.
“My first album was more ballad-heavy with only one uptempo,” he adds, laughing, “I’m guessing the brief was ‘love songs’ and we all know that sells.”
When it came to his follow-ups, however, Shayne worked with an array of big-name producers and writers including RedOne and Taio Cruz, however during the process he began collaborating with a variety of other musical heavyweights and those tracks were never included.
Looking back, he admits: “Like with everything, time moves quickly and so do opinions. There was a three year period in between my second and third album and I recorded so much as part of a writing camp in America, bouncing between rooms for recording sessions. Songs used to be leaked all the time and unfortunately mine did. They only ever stayed as demos, but my RedOne songs, Love Being In Love and Let’s Do It, should’ve been released as they were sure fire hits.
“I recorded these with Red just as the world was about to meet the pop legend that is Lady Gaga, and RedOne and Akon co-wrote Just Dance with her. Me and Taio Cruz wrote together too and it was fire, but never got released. One song was called Take You Home and it was another summer sexy banger. We need to release it. Let’s make it happen!”
Another rumour at the time was that Shayne had recorded a duet with Britney Spears – and he admits they almost came close! “I recorded a track called Must Be A Reason, which samples Wamdue Project’s 1997 dance track King of My Castle. Lucas [Secon] mentioned he had a vocal by Britney as this could be an option for a possible duet. Imagine if it happened, I’d still be on cloud nine. I love Britney!
“I also recorded a track called I’ll Fight For You, which had a sample of Toto’s Africa. It was later released by Jason Derulo. I would love the fans to hear it.”
Despite transitioning to acting in recent years, including his hugely-popular stint on ‘Coronation Street’ and the forthcoming Channel 5 drama ‘The Good Ship Murder’, the That’s My Goal star reveals he’s also been working on new tracks.
“I have some incredible country-pop songs I wrote from my trip to Nashville in March – that is an experience I’ll never forget as I am from an Irish family who always played country and Irish folk songs, and this is the home of some of the greats,” he smiles. “I got to work with musicians and producers you could only dream of!”
“My future is excitingly busy with a lot of new projects. And I’m ready as always to share it with my beautiful fans…”
‘Shayne Ward’ is out on vinyl November 25, with the ‘Anthology’ box set due December 9. Both are available to pre-order now.
Read the full interview in the December 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store, use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist, or get Digital Copies delivered direct to your devices.
