I wanted to make an album that melodically people can connect to; something that reflects our times and the kinds of difficulties we face.

I feel like 'Next To Me' is a great introduction because it's a simple song that has a simple message for me. I wanted to introduce something that lyrically I'm proud of and introduces me both as an artist and as a writer.

Any song I have to work on longer than a day, I just leave it. It's not gonna work. Everything that's good is really instant.

Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I'm songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It's so important.

I'm not too bothered about what category my music goes in and there's no point in limiting in who you can reach, but I want it to be respected.

I want to speak for people that may not feel like they're being spoken for at the moment. And I want to make a connection between the world around us and the charts.

From when I was a kid I wanted to write. It was so important to me that I was writing my own material.