Ne-Yo "Surprised" With The Level Of Talent On This Year's The X Factor – Audio

5 October 2012, 14:07 | Updated: 5 October 2012, 16:51

The 'Let Me Love You' star admits he was happy to help out Nicole Scherzinger on the show last week.

Ne-Yo has confessed that he's looking forward to making a return to the X Factor this weekend as the live shows begin tomorrow night (6^th October).

The 'Beautiful Monster' star told Capital that he was pleased to help out Nicole Scherzinger during the judge's houses phase of the show and was pleased with the amount of talent to choose from.

"Yeh man, definitely looking forward to that – a role that I know a little bit more about as appose to judging talent," he said ahead of his live performance on the show. "It's going to be a good time."

Recalling the process of helping the former Pussycat Doll whittle her contestants down last week, he admitted it was fun and was happy to help.

"You know what, it was fun. Not that I didn't expect it to be fun, I just didn't know what to expect," he said. "I've known Nicole for a little while so I knew that was going to be cool but I got to say, there was a lot more talent then what was expected. A lot of those guys were really good."

Leona Lewis will also be performing on the opening night of the live shows and it is rumoured One Direction could also take to the stage for a surprise appearance.

You can listen to Ne-Yo speaking to Capital FM's showbiz reporter Kevin Hughes at the launch of Malibu Red about the X Factor below:

Ne-Yo looks ahead to this weekend's X Factor live shows

Meanwhile, Ne-Yo will be capping off a busy week on The X Factor following a secret performance in London and he's also preparing for the release of new album 'R.E.D' at the end of the month.

He's also rumoured to be working on tracks for Rihanna's upcoming seventh studio album.