Taio Cruz has admitted that he was “pleasantly surprised” when he went into the recording studio with Cheryl Cole and realised that she was actually able to sing.
Though it should be clear that Cole is no Victoria Beckham - she did have to prove her worth on talent show Popstars: The Rivals to get into Girls Aloud, after all - her vocal talents had obviously passed Cruz by.
The musician wrote and produced Stand Up for the X Factor judge's debut solo album 3 Words, and earlier this week said he thinks the track should become her third solo single.
It was recently announced that Cole has made the decision to delay the release of her second single until after Christmas. This means it will avoid a chart battle with the winner of The X Factor.
Discussing their collaboration, Cruz explained: "I was quite pleasantly surprised.
“A lot of people - including myself - had forgotten that she could sing, so when she went into the booth, I was like, 'Wow, you can really do this'.”
So what does he think of Cole in real life? Unsurprisingly, he had nothing but praise for the pop star.
"She is exactly the person you see on TV,” Cruz said. “Her personality is not false, she's a lovely, laid back confident woman, who loves her music and we made some good tunes together."
