So you've just come from Paris Fashion Week?

Yeah!

What were you doing there?

I was just being fabulous! (laughs) No I just went to go to some shows and was lucky enough to wear some clothes from some of the houses.

Is fashion something that you are interested in?

Yeah, I love fashion and it was really cool to be there and see the looks for next season.

Which shows most impressed you?

The Lanvin show was really beautiful. Really elegant, loved the trousers - really high-waisted, blousey 1940s looking shapes.

How would you describe your style?

My style has definitely matured a lot I think. I'm really into nice sharp menswear. I think there's definitely a 30s / 40s influence. Man-about-town Gatsby meets Bladerunner!

Would you ever consider dropping music to become a male model?

Ummm... I think I like food too much!

You had a huge international hit with Black and Gold. Have you found it hard to top that when you're sitting down working on new songs for your new album?

I just didn't approach it with that mind-set. I didn't have that mind-set when I made Black and Gold. I didn't set out to create an international smash-hit. That came about by just following my impulses and writing about what I was experiencing, and that's how I have approached this record. My influences have changed and progressed, and the things that inspire my music are different from the last record.

What are your new musical influences?

I think I've matured as a writer and as an arranger and composer. I think that shows in this record. When I made my first album I was very much limited with what tools I had to create the music. A lot of it was more electronic - which I loved - but this record I had more to play with, so I recorded a lot of live instruments - piano, drums, synths, horns, strings, percussion, saxophone... I really played around with more lush arrangements than I had in the past. I was really inspired by music from the late 70s and 80s.

What is your favourite track from your new album?

One of my favourites is Let the Love In which is 1983 era electro-funk- Chaka Khan, Prince inspired. I played most of the instruments on that and I really like the syncopated funky synths on it.

Did you have creative control over this record?

There are some co-writes with other artists, but I had complete creative control over this record, which I didn't have over the first one entirely. This one I just delivered the finished product.

Really?

I know it's so bizarre! I was caught off-guard by that. I was expecting a laundry list of things that they'd want me to change, but they were like "ok so just get it mastered and send us the final album".

That's so unusual - and very flattering.

I was surprised… (laughs)

Aside from your own music, whose music would you sing in the shower?

A lot of older music. I got really into collecting records and I went back and forth from New York and LA and would pop into old record shops and buy a lot of disco and funk. I think my favourite record that I play a lot at the moment is Aretha Franklin's Jump To It produced by Luther Vandross. And then Chaka Khan's What Are You Going To Do For Me?

Who is the most overrated person in pop music?

Oh God. This is a trick question to get me to talk smack about somebody. Oh God... (long pause)  I could probably come up with more people who are underrated.

Ok let's go with that.

Let's see. I think Janelle Monae is quite underrated.

Yeah - she never really blew up to the extent that I thought that she would.

Exactly - she's a great live performer. I saw her open for Prince. I think that Robyn should be bigger. We toured together and it was really fun.

If you could collaborate with someone musically who would it be?

I like Beyonce- like a lot!

What's your favourite track of hers?

I really like the new album! I thought this album was really underrated. I think there are some really classic old school songs on there - I like the songs Love on Top and We like to Party. Classic pop direction. I think she's the closest thing to Michael Jackson that we have now, as far as the calibre of performer. I think she's amazing.

How did you get into music in the first place?

I think it was bred into me. Five generations of my family were musicians. I grew up singing in church and was singing professionally when I was 10 or 11 on jingles and doing backing vocals, and singing in kids’ choirs.

What was the journey from that to getting signed?

The journey from that was becoming my own artist. I had to learn how to produce and write, so I got the equipment, software and laptop and started to write, learning how to programme and write stuff.

Did you write and produce Black and Gold before you were signed?

Yeah, me and my friend Jesse Rogg who co-produced it, put it out on his label. Just the two of us. I borrowed some money from my grandparents, printed it up and put it on MySpace. Then Annie Mac and Pete Tong started playing it and from there we got signed.

Could you happily live off that song for the rest of your life?

Probably, but I wouldn't want to stop creating music.

You've lived in LA, Sydney and London - which do you think has the most vibrant music scene?

I live in LA now, but I think they're all really different and unique. Obviously London is completely saturated with the music scene. There are so many venues here and so many different subcultures of music. Because of that there is such a fast turnover and people have a really short attention span. Don't you think so?

Yes, I completely agree.

So, more than anywhere else, the British music scene loves hype. They like to blow things up and then kick them off to the next thing. In America you can have more longevity and a viable career and develop things as you want to. Even Sia who is a friend of mine, who is Australian too and spent a lot of time in London - she lives and works in America because people there allow you to flourish for a longer period of time.  I think there's less of a concern with being cool and hip and edgy, and more about quality.

Are you as well-known in LA as you are in London?

I didn't really have the physical presence there like I did here. I just did a few late-night chat shows. I do get recognised, but LA's sort of like movie stars- no one really cares. LA was a good place for me to get grounded again which seems totally insane! LA seems so flighty and lofty and fantasy land, but going back there after being on the road for a year and half, promoting my first album and all the rollercoaster stuff I went through, LA was a really nice place to get grounded again. I just bought a house there and I have two dogs, and I'm like grown-up!

What breed are your dogs?

They're Dachshund mixes. They're really smart.

What's happening with Chauffeur? (Chauffeur is a super-group formed by Mark Ronson, Theophilus London and Sam) 

I think it's sort of on hold at the moment. Mark's over here working on various projects and Theophilus is like well on his way, deep in his own thing. I could see us getting back together and doing something in the future.

How did the collaboration come about in the first place?

We were actually in New York, Mark was recording his album, and I was there doing some writing, and he was just about to launch his shoe-line with Gucci, and Theophilus was in the studio too trying out some stuff on Mark's album. He was like, let's do something for the shoes.

What else does 2012 hold for you?

Ah man, I'm just so glad 2011 is over. It was really trying and it was really great to finish this album. I think 2012 is going to be a massive sense of release and relief to have new music out there, taking my show on the road and doing live gigs.

Will you be touring?

Yeah, I'm going to start touring in March in Australia, then America and then come back over here and do festivals and we'll see what happens after that. I'm excited to ... I feel like I was a bit stagnant for a while, I had a bit of a block but I'm really happy with this album and I want to keep the momentum going and start working on the next one as soon as possible.

If you had to sum up the new album in a sentence to our readers, how would you describe it?

I would say it is a personal journey to self-fulfilment through the music of late 70s and early 80s.

You say it's a personal journey - are the songs autobiographical in that sense?

Yeah, this album is really personal. I think the first one I was looking outward more, even Black and Gold was about finding meaning in the world outside of myself, and Twenty First Century World was about the craziness that surrounds us in our new technological world. This album is more about what's going on inside me. I had a broken heart, and I was doing a lot of reasoning with myself about what life meant, and how to be happy and be fulfilled. How to heal myself from a broken heart.

There's a lot of songs that jump between songs that are mantras of happiness - there's a song called Happiness and then Bleeding Heart.

So the listeners are going to get to know you a lot better?

Definitely.

And finally, who are your IDOLs?

Keith Haring, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Bjork, Alexander McQueen, Prince, Grace Jones.

Thank you so much Sam Sparro!

Return To Paradise will be released through EMI in May.

Interviewed by Holly Rubenstein