Pieter Van Hattem for AOL Music

Paul Potts knows what it's like to be Susan Boyle. Just a few years ago, the unlikely star won the first season of 'Britain's Got Talent.' After his 2007 win, Potts toured the world and released his debut album, 'One Chance.' Now, Potts is back, replete with his own makeover, yet humble as ever. On the day he stopped by the New York studios for a Sessions taping, Potts offered up his own advice to Boyle, dished on Simon Cowell and performed a few tunes from his upcoming album, 'Passione,' which hits proverbial shelves on May 5.

Full Interview
AOL: You've been touring all over the world. How does it feel?

PAUL: It's kind of mind-boggling. I have been around the world four times now. It's just crazy in comparison to the traveling I had done before. I had only been to three or four countries. Now I've been to over thirty.

AOL: What have been the highlights?

PAUL: Releasing an album in America is a huge highlight, and performing for the Queen is a highlight as well.

AOL: How is your life different now? You were a cell phone salesman. Now you're a professional musician.

PAUL: I enjoyed my job as a cell phone salesman. I enjoyed meeting people. I switched the way I sold things to the way that would work for me. But I love what I do now. I'm able to be fully me. When I'm onstage, it feels like there's a different Paul. It's like going to a different place.

AOL: Did you ever think that this would happen to you?

PAUL: When I did the first audition two years ago, I intended just to finish my amateur singing career. I remember watching the previous people audition. There was a fairly old man, he had his wife with him. He was whistling bird noises and his wife was dancing with a pashmina. He got booed and heckled by the audience -- very, very loudly. And I stood there thinking, "Oh, my God! Why are you here?" I'm not sure what was controlling me. There was just some power that was making me walk towards the stage. Life can take you by surprise.

AOL: How did you get the courage to go onstage?

PAUL: I'm not sure what made me walk out there. It felt like there was someone else controlling me.

AOL: Recently, we had James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins and his new band, Tinted Windows, in the studio. He said that when he first saw you sing, he cried. How does that make you feel?

PAUL: To have an established musician have admiration for you is something that I think any artist would be proud of. I've seen the video for [the Smashing Pumpkins'] 'Tonight, Tonight,' and it was a really great video. Their music is good, too. And it's one of my wife's favorite acts as well.

AOL: Tell us about your new album.

PAUL: I took a lot more time with this album. My first album was made in about eight days, and released less than a month after it. It's great to have actually made an album and had a bit more time with it. We took a year to produce the record. It was recorded in the space of three or four months, in Stockholm and in Prague.

AOL: You recorded a Mother's Day song as well.

PAUL: The song, 'Mamma,' is about trying to tell your mother things that you should tell her, but you don't get around to -- like, you miss her and you love her. And you appreciate the things that she does.

AOL: Susan Boyle is getting a lot of the same treatment that you got when you were on 'Britain's Got Talent.' What do you think of her and her performance?

PAUL: I think she's great. She is an example of how people can take you by surprise. When I did 'Britain's Got Talent,' it was over the span of nine days. It is now over six or seven weeks, bearing in mind that she has to deal with the press attention. I think she is handling how things have happened very well.

AOL: Do you have advice for Susan Boyle on how to withstand the pressure?

PAUL: I think the most important thing is to take each stage and each day as it comes. Be yourself and enjoy it because you never know how long you get to do it. There's no such thing as a guaranteed future. And you just have to take each step as it comes.

AOL: There's a lot of media attention focused on Susan Boyle's image. She just recently got a make-over. What do you think about that?

PAUL: I think you need to change things if you want to change them. I was very uncomfortable about my teeth. My wedding album doesn't have a single photograph of me smiling with an open mouth. I didn't look as happy as I was feeling. The credence is: don't feel the pressure to change, but don't feel the pressure not to change, either. Be yourself because that is the only person that you have to live with for the rest of your life.

AOL: What is it like working with Simon Cowell?

PAUL: He's a very honest person and in some ways, that is quite refreshing. He's straight-forward but he will give credit where it's due. We've had a few chats and he's told me that he is very happy with the album. It makes me blush when I hear good things said about me.

AOL: A movie, titled 'Starstruck,' is being made about you. How does that make you feel?

PAUL: We've had a meeting with Justin Zackham, and it's quite weird that somebody that has worked on films like 'The Bucket List,' is proposed to be writing the script. I would want to be involved in some way. My wife's told me that she would play herself, and have Johnny Depp play me. I can't really blame her for that.

--Georgia Kral