Does XO Man have the X Factor? (From Croydon Guardian)

Does XO Man have the X Factor?

4:37pm Monday 22nd December 2008

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If I had a crystal ball and my name were Meg, I would be predicting big things for a Mitcham man called XO.

Not his real name, (he wouldn’t reveal that to me which got me pondering on whether he was actually called Nigel or Clive), the 26 year old just walked off with the Hugo Urban Rules prize - winning over a judging panel which consisted of The Sugababes, MOBO-award winning Kiss FM DJ Manny Norté and 1Xtra’s Twin B.

“The Sugababes were cool, they seem like the want to be taken seriously, they are really down to earth and were smiling and cracking jokes, plus they are nice to look at!” says XO Man.

And the Babes of Sugar were equally as complimentary about him: “We loved his track ‘Lady Dog’ and there’s definitely star quality about him.”

The competition offers new urban talent the unique opportunity to have their music professionally recorded and released and XO has just wrapped his first music video for ‘Microwave,’ his witty song about broken white goods.

“XO Man’s music is a mixture of everything good and great in the world. I put it in a bag, shake it up and out pops me!” says the man himself.

Described by the people at Urban Rules as ‘the UK’s answer to André 3000’, XO certainly has the charisma and the, umm, eclectic dress sense of the Outkast singer.

“I get my clothes from anywhere, if they don’t have the right size I wear it differently, like rolling up a sleeve or something.”

But he won’t be following Mr 3000’s foray into basketball (albeit in a dramatic capacity as illustrated by his appearance in the Will Ferrell film - Semi-Pro) despite his 6ft 10in height: “I was offered to go to America to play but never went, I find basketball boring, I prefer going to the gym and do Thai boxing.”

Modest XO Man bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate his success but hasn’t popped the cork yet: “I bought it but haven’t opened it, I don’t want to celebrate in the beginning, I’ll celebrate when I’m 35 chilling on a rooftop in Tahiti!”

He shouldn’t be so hard on himself though as his tunes are catchy, his lyrics humorous and importantly in the music business, he doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously: “I know a lot of nonsense! I pay attention to things that other people don’t, like if there was a three legged man walking down the street, I’d notice, actually everyone would probably notice that!”

XO MAn is staying true to his Mitcham roots: “I love Mitcham, I know no different, its a cool place.”

Perhaps he should do a ‘Good Shoes’ and do for Mitcham’s credibility what they did for Morden.

For more info about XO Man look him up on Myspace Music.

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