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"It&amp;#039;s a given that most X Factor champions will storm the charts with their well-timed and generously-funded debut album. However, the real test comes when writing the platinum-seller&amp;#039;s follow-up. Alexandra Burke has been hard at work masterminding her next move since promotion finished on her double-platinum Overcome back in 2009-10. Digital Spy caught up with the self-confessed chatterbox to talk about new single &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039;, what&amp;#039;s in store for album number two and how she is finding life away from Simon Cowell&amp;#039;s Syco record label. Are you pleased with the response to &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039;? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m really pleased with the reaction so far. It&amp;#039;s a song that means so much to me and I&amp;#039;m just happy to finally have my single out. I&amp;#039;m just happy to be back.&amp;quot; It went through a number of delays... &amp;quot;Yeah, there were a few delays - just for the simple reason that was an opportunity for a collaboration to be the first single. I explored that option, but definitely just wanted &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039; to be the lead single.&amp;quot; There is a big &amp;#039;90s dance influence on the song - we take it you&amp;#039;re a fan of the genre... &amp;quot;I really, really am! The whole album is influenced by &amp;#039;90s dance music. That whole era means a lot to me because it&amp;#039;s the music I grew up listening to. The fact that I can try and re-create and put my own little spin on it to a certain degree has been fun. I&amp;#039;ve been recording this album for just over a year and I&amp;#039;m still working on it. It&amp;#039;s been very special.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s about the &amp;#039;Elephant in the room&amp;#039; - what&amp;#039;s the most awkward situation you&amp;#039;ve found yourself in? &amp;quot;When do I not find myself in an awkward situation?! I&amp;#039;ll put it out there; I was dating somebody last year and he was really lovely, but obviously somebody wanted more and that was me! Neither of us would talk about it and so I just decided to talk about it! It didn&amp;#039;t really go to plan, but it worked out for the best and we&amp;#039;re still great friends. So I turned it around and put it in a song that will get everyone dancing. That&amp;#039;s what the whole album is based around - serious matters that are close to my heart and turning it around to make it feel-good.&amp;quot;  You&amp;#039;ve switched labels for this album - how&amp;#039;s that going? &amp;quot;RCA are a fantastic label and so were Syco. What&amp;#039;s great about RCA is that there is a lot more going on. At the end of the day, Simon Cowell is busy with The X Factor and is always away and so I wanted to make sure I had a label that was there for me. RCA&amp;#039;s Colin Barlow is here in London, so it&amp;#039;s really helpful. Simon still oversees stuff and is a great person to be connected with and I have a lot of respect for him. He helped me get to where I am today.&amp;quot; Has Simon listened to the new stuff and given any feedback? &amp;quot;He hasn&amp;#039;t given me any feedback, but I hope he&amp;#039;s loving it! If he didn&amp;#039;t he would let me know about it, that&amp;#039;s for sure.&amp;quot; Are there any tracks fans will be surprised to hear you sing? &amp;quot;I think the whole album is going to be a bit of a surprise. If &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039; was a surprise then I think the rest of the album is going to be a little shocker.&amp;quot; Will we be getting any more ballads? &amp;quot;You will most definitely be getting some more ballads. I love singing ballads, but the main focus is uptempo. I can&amp;#039;t stand on stage for too long as I like to dance. I love to move about, but there will be some ballads on the album and some emotional songs too.&amp;quot; Are there any more collaborations on the album? &amp;quot;Yeah, there are a couple more we are just finalising. I can&amp;#039;t say who they are with, but I&amp;#039;m really excited.&amp;quot; We know you&amp;#039;re not allowed to say names, but can you tell us if they are UK or US stars? &amp;quot;It could be a mix of both. That&amp;#039;s all I&amp;#039;m saying!&amp;quot; Will you be touring this album? &amp;quot;Most definitely. I&amp;#039;m not sure when as dates are yet to be confirmed, but I will be touring this album for sure.&amp;quot;  Are there any major themes on the new album that could play a part on the tour? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m in a few different minds with where I want to go with the tour. I have a few ideas, but nothing is set in stone yet. I just know that this tour is going to be very sexy, but at the same time very young and fun.&amp;quot; You&amp;#039;ve had success in Europe and Australia - any plans to return there? &amp;quot;Yes, we are planning to take the album global, but we&amp;#039;ll have to wait and see where the music takes me.&amp;quot; Obviously that includes the US as well? &amp;quot;Absolutely! We are hoping and we have our fingers crossed.&amp;quot; Aside from music, what else have you got going on at the moment? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m going to continue my charity work, but am hoping to get my foundation off the ground too. I want to build a school in Haiti and I know that&amp;#039;s a long way off yet, but that is something I definitely want to keep going at.&amp;quot; A spot seems to be opening up on the X Factor panel this year - would you do it again if asked? &amp;quot;Most definitely. Why not? It was a lot of fun and I had an absolute blast. I&amp;#039;ve been through what they&amp;#039;re going through, so why not?&amp;quot; Is television work something you&amp;#039;re interested in pursuing? &amp;quot;If it falls naturally and it&amp;#039;s organic, then yes. It&amp;#039;s something that I would never force. Everything I do has to feel right. I would never do it for the sake of doing it. If it actually happens then why not? I always have a lot of fun in everything I do.&amp;quot; That came across on The X Factor - especially with the &amp;#039;OK.com&amp;#039; moment. Are people still saying that to you? &amp;quot;Oh my God, all the time! The joke of it is that it&amp;#039;s something I have been saying for years. Not just &amp;#039;OK.com&amp;#039;, but &amp;#039;.com&amp;#039; full stop. So what people saw on The X Factor was just me.&amp;quot; Alexandra Burke&amp;#039;s new single &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039; will be released in the UK on March 11. Watch the music video for &amp;#039;Elephant&amp;#039; below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/interviews/a366464/alexandra-burke-interview-simon-cowell-was-too-busy-for-me/>