Jai McDowall Interview

If there’s one thing to be learnt from British talent shows, it’s that the Great British public love an underdog. This was proven when cheeky Scot Jai McDowall went on to beat firm-favourite Ronan Parks in the final of Britain’s Got Talent in June with his stunning rendition of Josh Groban’s To Where You Are. We caught up with the charming singer to find out about his new album Believe and how his life has changed since winning the show….

Okay, so first of all, it’s really nice to meet you. We’re here to talk about your new album Believe which comes out on 12th December – just in time for Christmas! Can you tell me a little about the album? Am I right in thinking it consists of covers?
Yes, it does! The album is made up of ten songs and they’re all covers of the likes of Green Day, Nickelback, U2 and Evanescence. What we tried to do with them was take the songs and try to make them mine rather than just do copies. I wanted it to be a fresh take on them rather than just do a generic cover version. If I’m being honest, when I first got wind that we were going to do an album of covers I wasn’t entirely sure about it but I’m really happy now because with the way we did it. I was able to put my own stamp on each song so I feel like they’re mine now, not just copies straight from the book.

The album features a really wide variety of covers – everything from Green Day to Josh Groban. How would you describe your own musical inspirations? What music would you generally be found listening to on a day off?
My musical tastes are very wide ranging – on my iPod you’d find everything from Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears to Iron Maiden and Nightwish! I think it’s really good that it reflects in my album because I didn’t want to do a CD full of big ballads or anything like that. I wanted to do something that reflected me as a person and my musical tastes so I guess that’s why it’s so all over the place [laughs]!

In the future, do you hope to branch out and maybe release some original music? Have you any experience in song writing?
Well, I’ve written lyrics before – or tried to write lyrics, I should say! I don’t actually play an instrument at the moment so haven’t written any full songs before but I’d love to start learning! The reason I love Kelly Clarkson so much is because she has managed to put so much of herself into her songs through her lyrics. It’s because of this I think I relate to them so much which I think is really important so yeah, I really would love to write and record my own songs one day.

With it being your first album, how did you find the recording process?
It was strange! It was great, but strange because obviously I had never done it before and it’s very different to performing onstage. The guys that I worked with were fantastic – they’ve worked with some really big names like Kylie in the past so to be able to say I’ve worked with them is just absolutely amazing.

You are signed to Simon Cowell’s record label. How involved was he in the process?
He was involved quite a lot actually – I was surprised with how much! Obviously he’s incredibly busy so we’re not like meeting up every other day or anything like that but I have met up with him and there have been a lot of emails and phone calls exchanged which has been really good.

Have you heard from any of the BGT judges since winning the show?
No, I haven’t heard from any of them yet. I know that a few of the other contestants have though and I keep in touch with them – it’s really great to keep up-to-date with what everyone else from the show is getting up to!

Obviously, you’re the second singer to have won the show after Paul Potts in 2007. What made you decide to enter Britain’s Got Talent as opposed to The X Factor?
It just came down to the style of singing I do – obviously The X Factor is geared more towards manufacturing a pop star and in my first audition I went in and sang a song from a musical. Obviously Rhidian was quite successful on The X Factor but I think that was probably a one-off so I decided to go for Britain’s Got Talent instead. The great thing about Britain’s Got Talent is that they really take what you’ve got and work with you to improve it whereas on The X Factor you have to sing a certain type of song each week which can be quite difficult even though I do think I’ve got
quite a versatile voice. I think the show really helped me improve as a singer and performer without changing me which was really great.

You were given a great opportunity earlier this year to perform with Josh Groban at the Royal Concert Hall. As a huge fan of his music, how was that experience for you?
I loved and I just love talking about because it was so good. It really just happened by chance – I was already going to see him and had just asked my management if I could meet him because I’m such a big fan – I didn’t think that I would actually get the chance to perform with him! It was an absolute dream come true for me though and he was such a lovely guy so I admire him even more than I did before now.

Given the chance, what other artists would you like to collaborate with in the future and why?
I’d kind of love to do another one with Josh Groban to be honest. The likes of Lea Michele from Glee would be wicked because she has such an amazing voice. I’d also love to perform with Susan Boyle – she has the same vocal coach that I do but unfortunately she’s also as busy as am I at the moment! I think it’d be great to perform with her because she’s one of the few people who can really understand what it’s like to come from a show like this.

Finally, aside from the small task of performing in front of the royal family, what have you got planned for the rest of the year?
I don’t know yet – I would absoloutely love to tour next year but at the moment I’m just taking things one day at a time. We’ll see what happens!