I have always struggled with expressing emotion, I used to think I was a very hard person but music has shown me I'm a big softy! Writing songs to me really is like writing a diary, it's very private and very personal. My most emotional songs have been written alone in a locked room, I'm able to express myself there.

Cuts in a sector are never going to be welcomed, and arts funding cut by up to 30% doesn't make nice reading. But cuts are happening across the board, in many sectors for the sake of the economy. And if you look at economically depressed post-war UK, The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones came into fruition... maybe giving weight to the claim that bad economic times can actually lead to greater creativity!

I would say the main themes are love, loss and life. Although a lot of the songs represent hard times and situations I think my album is positive, the message is things will get better.

The best advice came from my manager, Anne, who told me to never compare myself to other people and to be true to myself. There's so many talented people out there in the world of music it can be intimidating, and she taught me to be inspired by talent and not scared of it.

LATE will always be the most important song to me. I used to struggle to perform it live without getting upset but have performed it a lot now, which has really helped. Very often it makes people in the audience cry, and that means so much to me that they can relate to the emotions in the song. It was actually a really easy song to write, I wrote most of it in one day... it sort of flowed out of me. I was never good with dealing with emotion, so I think I kind of needed to write it!

The biggest lesson is that you write the best songs when you're being real, an honest and you mean what you're saying, not trying to be something you're not.

I was actually working throughout the worst of the recession. I watched half my team lose their jobs, the hours were longer and the future was uncertain... But I worked with an amazing team and even in the worst times I was proud of the work I did and part I played. A lot people are surprised to hear I still miss the bank sometimes!