Matt Willis
We say Having previously been the least irritating member of chart-topping pop-punkers Busted, 22-year-old Matt Willis is now the best bet to achieve Robbie levels of stardom. The likeable south London native’s solo debut has been produced and co-written by Jason Perry, formerly of A. With early songs sounding something like Def Leppard doing mainstream pop, Willis appears to have a good chance of doing very well indeed.

He says ‘When Busted ended, I thought: Fuck, what the hell am I gonna do? I should have been prepared for it, but I wasn’t. So I had a bit of time off, but I don’t really like time off, ’cos I tend to get into trouble when I’ve got nothing to do. Sure enough, I ended up spending some time in rehab, which wasn’t my kind of thing at all. So I got out of that and straight back into work mode.

‘I had no idea what direction to go with my solo stuff. I knew I didn’t want to do a pop-punk band and I’m not really an indie kid. To be honest, the record company almost gave me too much of a loose rein. I spent a lot of last year listening to dodgy ’80s rock, so when they said “Just do what you want, Matt”, I was like: Right, I’m gonna make a Van Halen record! But eventually I decided to pull it back a tiny bit. So I’ve made an album that’s unashamedly pop but done right.

‘Obviously I know I’ll be getting the New Robbie thing, but I’ve been called a lot, lot worse. Plus, I do want to sell shitloads of albums and be huge. And no, I’m not still the “bass player”. I couldn’t wait to get the fucking thing out of my hands.’

Look out for Willis’ first single will be released in early May, followed by a second single in July and a debut album in August.

Chris Salmon