Hi Kian here,

It's coming up to crunch time for the fans as we get down to the serious business of picking a singer to join us on the next album. We were due to hold the Irish auditions yesterday in Dublin - but we had a last minute change of plans.

Instead, the finalists will be flown over to London to merge with the British entrants next Tuesday. We're bringing the best of the Irish singers over. I don't know how many will be taking part as, at the time of writing this column, we were still listening to the hotline entries.

As I told you here a couple of weeks ago, the new album will be a Rat Pack style collection of songs, featuring the classics from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett. I can't reveal the title of the song the winning fan will be joining us on - as there are a number in the running and we haven't made the final descision.

All the lads here in Westlife are also looking forward to the big party in the park at Dublin's Phoenix Park on September 4. We'll be joining bands like Blue, Bellefire, Girls Aloud and Aslan and it promises to be a fun day in the park. Hopefully the sun will do the business, just to add to the enjoyment. See ya there.