Naughty Boy is In:Demand

Alex met up with Naughty Boy to talk about the superstar names he's worked with, what it was like being on Deal or No Deal and the cryptic video behind his new single La La La. Despite his success in the music industry with Emeli Sande, Naughty Boy is new to being put in front of a microphone for interviews. Alex asked him how he's finding this, "Doing interviews is nice, it's better than I thought it would be - just because I'm a bit shy sometimes. But I think I'm enjoying it a lot.", he replied. Naughty Boy's real name is Sahid Khan, so Alex asked him how the pseudonym came about."When I decided I wanted to do this producing thing seriously in 2005, I dropped out of my degree, I kind of took on like a... not a superhero... but I thought it'd be easier if I create someone and become him rather than simple old me. So Naughty Boy is sort of like my alter-ego. I think Naughty Boy is just my cheeky side so I can get away with stuff with him." Sahid said. When Alex compares Naughty Boy to Daft Punk, he says, "I think I still want to have a voice and still want to inspire people as well, especially with music. I never thought La La La was gonna be as big as this. It's just nice to make the music I feel like making. "Even with Heaven, Emeli's song, we didn't think it would be that big. La La La's success is mad. It's actually crazy. It's one of those songs that's catchy but also it's got deeper meaning, like a love song. It's a bit sad as well I think but it's clouded with this whole 'la la'", he added. When Alex tells Sahid that he likes the video for La La La, Naughty Boy is almost shocked, "Oh you like it?! You don't think it's a bit weird? I've never been involved in a song where so many people have asked me to explain the video and I've deliberately not. I want people to think 'What is he trying to say', I like that. It's all going to tie in eventually, we're doing another two trailers before the album comes out so I like the fact that you may have some unanswered questions about it." Before Naughty Boy made it big, he appeared on the Channel 4 show, Deal or No Deal, winning £44,000. *"That was just random. That was so random. I dropped out of my degree, working at Dominos just thinking I need a way out. Thinking, 'I wanna make music but I've got no money and I've got no studio', so I think you've just gotta think big sometimes, so I thought 'Gameshow'! And it worked! "£44,000 is a lot of money, I wasn't used to that kind of money at all. It bought me time and it gave me space to create and a couple of years later I met Emeli and then just carried on."

• Sahid added. Naughty Boy has worked with a lot of artists as well as Emeli Sande; Leona Lewis, Cheryl, Rihanna, Lily Allen and even Susan Boyle. Recently he's also worked with X-Factor winner James Arthur. "He's really amazingly talented. It's really good, I'm trying new things with him. It's quite earthy and guitary and heavy drums. I think people are going to be surprised by his stuff. I don't think he's a traditional X-Factor act, I think he stands alone as an artist. Even if he didn't come from X-Factor I think he would've been noticed." Speaking about how he met Emeli, Naughty Boy said, "It was 2008, it was a showcase that happens in London called 'I Love Live' and she was the opening performer and she did a song called 'My Baby's Eyes' on piano and I just thought she was singing to me. You know when you get that captured by someone's performance? Then she finished and no-one went up to her so I just went up to her and we started talking. We both had a feeling we should meet up and work because we were both at early stages in our careers." To hear this and much more from this revealing interview with Naughty Boy, hit PLAY now. Check out the video for Naughty Boy's La La La below: Naughty Boy - La La La on MUZU.TV.