"I think that if you look at solo artists like Robbie or George Michael, they establish themselves first as performers and personas to their peers, and then they have the freedom to go out and cover stuff. The most honest way that I could thank the public for their support would be to use my own melodies, my own lyrics, and the six month gap between the programme." "It was a conscious decision by me not to release a cover off the back of the television programme," he intones, "because I didn't think it would be fair on me, to be honest.
Even so, talking to Darius, you still sense innately that you're talking to the expensively educated middle class son of a doctoring family. Darius co-wrote the track and it bears a soul and identity that would never have been possible under the iron fist of Simon Cowell. Colourblind is a gently rocking sliver of a 1-style pop-boy-goes-indie. Having endured the backlash the first time around, when he blindly hoiked himself around breakfast telly shows, unaware that he and his family had become hate figures, lost an original deal because of it, gamely returned for Pop Idol, endured Cowell's accusations of corniness, and realised in a moment of clarity that the Greek oily waiter look was not going to rock, his new found humility is understandable.Įven better, the release of his single, Colourblind, proves he has something approaching the pop mettle to carry the whole thing off. All planetpop could feel at our encounter with Darius Mk II was the presence of an unfeasibly tall man. Amazing what a haircut can do if Darius could feel the love in that room. IT'S almost impossible to imagine the difference between the grotesque sight of Darius Danesh, the self-centred, Britney-covering, shamanic hate figure from Popstars, and standing in front of him now.