Matt Cardle

We speak with Matt cardle on the night the cream of the countries pop stars turned out in force to celebrate Christmas at Key 103's sellout Jingleball.

It's hard not to chuckle inside just a little bit...

Walking down the long white corridor that splits the backstage dressing rooms at the MEN Arena is always going to be a treat when there's a gig on, and despite the fact I'm here to interview the stars (well, the willing ones,) it still felt somewhat surreal moment when I took a cheeky peek in The Wanted's dressing room to be greeted by the band sat on a fat sofa with Ed Sheeran plonked in the middle of them, It's hard not to chuckle inside just a little bit...

Each individual dressing room has the performers name on the door, JLS, Tinchy Stryder, Dappy (N-Dubz), Pixie Lott, Ed Sheeran, James Morrison, Emeli Sande, Olly Murs and Matt Cardle, all here to entertain Manchester pop fans.

Matt Cardle's first to enter the press room and I ask him about his new single release and whether he thinks it will do well...

The single's available from 5th december although it's been available on the album for around a month so I think a lot of people have already got it. I'm not sure how well it's going to chart... Hopefully what the single can do is introduce people to my album; assuming they like the single.

Do big charting singles = lots of album sales?

Well, it doesn't always work out that way unfortunately, it really doesn't, I just care less about single number one's and chart positions than I do about my album doing well. You know, just use the singles to really push the album rather than getting these trophy number one's, don't get me wrong, having a number one is great but it's all about the album for me.

Looking at the line-up it appears to be split into two camps, you have credible artists like Ed sheeran, James Morrison and then we have exclusively pop acts like Pixie are The Wanted, I wonder whether Matt see's himself as sitting on the credible side of the fence...

I'd like to think so, for a few reasons, I co-wrote every track on my album from start to finish apart from the track that Gary Barlow wrote and I have been doing this for a long long time, I've been a singer/songwriter since I was 12, I sent my first demo to a record company when I was only 13 years old, I remember getting a really sweet letter back from Sony saying 'we like your work - just carry on...' so Yes, I've always thought I fell into the credible category.

Matt's due on stage in 10 minutes so I wish him a Merry Christmas and leave him to prepare for his performance in front of a packed house.

By Craig Nelson