Craig David is tongue-tied by Tagalog. He's just finished an interview with a Philippine radio station and is taping several on-air promo spots. One contains a cool colloquialism that might translate to 'homeboys' in the country's national language, but stumbling off the tongue of the singer-songwriter from Southampton it sounds neither cool nor colloquial.
'Manong ka-bar-ka-da! What's up, Philippines!? I'm Craig David ...'
The interviewer has flown to Hong Kong for the release of David's fourth album, Trust Me, and isn't going back to Manila with a tape that has the star sounding like a sap. He interrupts and makes him try it a few more times.
Such are the tricks of the trade - if you want to be a successful entertainer, you must learn to sound cool in a several languages. Having sold 13 million albums before he turned 26, David would seem born for it.
The first two singles off his debut album, Born to do It, shot up the charts and it went platinum in 20 countries. It also made David the youngest person in British history to hit No1, at just 19 years of age.
So why does his record company talk about David having a 'fresh start'? With one of the greatest-ever starts to a career, why the need to start again?
'If you look at record sales - seven million on Born to do It, three and a half million on the second [Slicker Than Your Average], two million on The Story Goes ... - you could say you're looking at a decline,' David says.