X Factor winner James Arthur has admitted that receiving a personal phone call from Simon Cowell was a strange experience because he thought it was a prankster.

The talented vocalist told the Mail Online that the music mogul rang him earlier today (December 11) to congratulate him on winning the TV contest, but at first he thought someone was just winding him up:

"I spoke to Simon Cowell today. I thought it was a prank originally. He said I was a credit to the show and he really respects what I do and that he'd love me to stay true to myself and carry on doing what I'm doing."

Arthur added that having Cowell's input on his debut studio album would be a dream come true, and he hopes they find time to talk about the project together:

"I'd love Simon Cowell to have an input in my album, he's the biggest person in the music industry and I value his input and opinions. But I will ultimately be the person who decides what goes out there and I'll have to be proud of it."

He also explained that he has plenty of original material to work with because he's been writing for the past ten years: "My album will be about love and life and pain and my experiences, which many people can relate to. A lot of the songs will be about positivity and getting through struggles.

"Without a doubt the album will be self-penned, I've got material I've accumulated over the last ten years that I'm going to put down in the basic form. I'm going to lay down albums and albums worth of music and then it's all about picking the best 12 tracks and getting the right people involved."

Watch Arthur perform his winner's single below: