Kandi Burruss is still riding that "Tardy for the Party" train.

Each episode of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" cast member's spin-off show on Bravo "The Kandi Factory" features two would-be performers who are given Kandi-penned songs to perform. The better performer (with help from Kandi's image consultant, choreographer and music producer) gets a music video and release on iTunes.

Burruss, who has written hit songs for TLC and Destiny's Child, also co-wrote and produced "Tardy for the Party" three years ago for non-singer Kim Zolciak. It became an unlikely hit.

This inspired the spin-off show idea, which Bravo tested a year ago with a single episode. She now has eight more starting tonight, April 9 at 10 p.m.

"Writing music is fun," Kandi said in an interview last month. "I'm not going to lie to you and say it was totally easy."

She said she went straight into producing "The Kandi Factory" after the end of season five of "Real Housewives" with virtually no break.

She said they had to prep a song and a person to perform said song in five days. Overall, she wrote 16 songs.  A couple of songs had to be re-written.

Genres are all over the place: rock, pop, R&B, even rap. Rap, she said, was the most difficult to write. She allowed one rapper to do his own raps. The other was more a pop-rap artist.

She said a few of the people were worth working with after the fact. "Some could sing a little bit," she said. "Some could really sing and really perform. I really do want to take them to the next level."

While her staff could be harsh on the contestants, she said "I tried not to break anybody's spirit. We only had five days to get them on stage. It's just as much a competition for us as it is for them."

She also addressed her recent lawsuit against Kim Zolciak so she would stop selling "Tardy for the Party." "I wasn't initially going to sue her," she said. "I just wanted the song pulled down. I don't want anyone to make money off of it. Every time  I tried to pull the song down, she'd send letters to put it back on. In order to have it really put down, I had to file suit."

"It wasn't about the money for me," Burruss added. "It was about her trying to make money off of it."

[Given that the song is probably barely selling anything now three years after the fact, this would seem to be a strange action but hey, to each his own.]

Bottom line: "We're not friends anymore. Why should I allow my work to be up like that?"

When I noted that Bravo is still using the song for promos for Kim's show "Tardy for the Party," she sighed and said, "We won't even talk about that."

She acknowledged that the fact their two shows are paired together ("Tardy" starts April 16) is "a little strange. But they do their research. They figure this is a good set up."

As for season five, she said she was "kind of thrown off" by Kim's departure. "It didn't seem to affect us. Our ratings went up. It turned out good. We had a lot of fun taping this season. The trip [to Aguilla], we had a good time. There wasn't all that extra past negativity. Everything happened this year was hilarious and comedic."

How about she and fiance Todd Tucker? "Todd and I are in a great place. We're teammates. We just have a lot of great things planned for the future. I'm happy."

Kenya Moore: "She's more than I thought she'd be. I did not realize Kenya was going to be as much of a character as she turned out to be. She was great for the show."

Did she think it was all for real? "I think she turned it up a bit for the cameras. But I don't know. I've never discussed it with her. I really don't care. Whatever it was, it was great."

As noted on the show and the reunion, she didn't like with the way Kenya copied Phaedra Parks' video, though. "I don't agree with copying people's ideas."

Porsha Stewart's divorce: "I feel bad for Porsha. Everybody loved her. She's a sweet girl. But I hate that for her. I know people were watching the show and how much stress that can put on a relationship."

Todd being on camera: "He did not like it. We had to beg him to do scenes. He's worked behind the scenes. He knows how you can look really crazy. He's always afraid how they would depict him. He's not a drama kind of guy." He reluctantly allowed himself to be on the show for Kandi's sake.

Does she plan to come back for season six? "I'm they want me to come back, sure!"

TV preview

"The Kandi Factory," 10 p.m. Tuesdays, Bravo, starting April 9