It's the group that coined the term "popera" - fusing rich operatic vocals with the most successful pop hits of this century. But Il Divo, a group purpose-built by reality television magnate Simon Cowell in 2003, recently gained their own artistic independence and are high off the back of the release of new album Timeless, which soared to the top of the Australian charts.

Il Divo's four, ahem, very photogenic male singers are headed to Canberra to perform songs from Timeless at AIS Arena on October 24. Lifestyle editor Bree Winchester caught up with Spanish baritone Carlos Marin ahead of his visit to the capital later this month.

Bree: Timeless is packed with hits and has been an absolute success for Il Divo. How did you decide which songs would actually make the album?

Carlos: We've been together for 15 years and this is the first album where we've absolutely been in charge of choosing the songs. We started with a very long list of about 150 songs, then we chose about 40 and then went into the studio and recorded all 40. Then we chose the 10 best ones! It was so hard to choose, it took us about a year to decide.

Bree: What's your favourite song on the album?

Carlos:

I have to say [Adele's] Hello and also Right Here Waiting for You [by Richard Marx]. There's so many, because we have chosen songs from the 1930s until the actual day. For example, we have Smile, from Charlie Chaplin, we have Unforgettable, we have such beautiful songs. This time we thought - look, let's do something that can reach all age ranges.

Bree: I can't believe Adele let you cover Hello!

Carlos: I know! We thought okay, let's see if we can approach Adele and ask to do a version that no-one has done before because the only version that exists is the English version that she did. So we are the first group in the world that she has agreed to let do another version, a Spanish version, it's totally different to hers and we have all her blessings. She loved our video clip!

Bree: My favourite song on Timeless is Love Me Tender. But you've taken it from a quiet ballad to an absolute powerhouse of a song. How did that feel?

Carlos: Well, that's a special thing from Il Divo. We just take over! We investigate how we can manage to sing really big at the end. How we can change the keys maybe. Every time we take a song, even if it's a cover, we choose to analyse it and we rewrite the song as if it was written for us.

Bree: Il Divo sings in Italian, French, English, Spanish - what's your favourite language to sing in?

Carlos: For the past 15 years we have sung most of our songs in Spanish. I love Spanish. In a way it is more expressive because of all those broken vowels. And when you sing a big note, you can hear the "rrrr", "aaaa" and "eeee" - that's your way to give power to the voice.

Bree: So who's the typical Il Divo fan? Is it a middle-aged woman like me?

Carlos: The funny thing is we have so many fans right now, it's just growing, growing, growing. Right now we have kids from 14 years old, even younger, to old grandmas (laughs). It's different in different places. For example, when you go to South America you have a much younger crowd, then in Europe it's an older crowd. The most amazing thing is, whoever was a little bit older when we first started, now you have the nieces, the nephews. the children, the grandchildren. It's fantastic. It's a really beautiful thing with Il Divo.

Bree: After 15 years, do you still get that buzz when you walk out onto the stage?

Carlos: Oh yeah, for sure. You need to have the feel of butterflies in your stomach. If you just go on stage, and you don't have any nerves, then you're not an artist. You need to have these little butterflies in your stomach saying okay, let's see how it works, let's see the new audience. Even if you perform every night you have a new reaction, you have a new audience, you have young, you have old, it's different and it's special.

Bree: So what's next for Il Divo? What's the vision for the future?

Carlos: Right now, we are in the middle of the tour. We started in Mexico in April and we don't finish until 2019. Then we're hoping to work on a new album. I think Il Divo is still on for as long as the audience wants. And I think we know that it is a brand that we need to work very hard for. It's not that we wake up in the morning and take it for granted. We don't think okay, we've achieved everything, now what? Everything we have, we are very hard workers and we are always thinking about the audience, what we can achieve, which new songs we can do, which new shows we can do. Every time we do a new show, for example, we have busier content but we stay really close to the audience and I think that's a beautiful thing.

Bree: I look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Carlos!

Carlos: Absolutely. Buena Vida!