Since a lot of your songs are about heartache and pain and your reaction to them. What particular song do you find hard to sing live, one that brings back a lot of emotion?

"Melt My Heart To Stone." I wrote that song straight off a breakup with this boy who the album's about. I still find that difficult to sing sometimes.

The first single off of 19 was "Chasing Pavements." What life events served as inspiration for the lyrics?

I had a fight in a club with the boy the album's about, and then I ran off down the street. It was really late – it was 6 in the morning. There was no one chasing me and I wasn't chasing anyone. I was just running away. I remember saying to myself, "What you're chasing is you're chasing an empty pavement." It's a metaphor. It's impossible to chase a pavement but I was chasing that pavement. 

Do you find it challenging as a young artist to come in writing your own material instead of having others write it for you?

No. I really enjoyed writing those songs. It's important that I have a connection with my songs. I don't have a connection with other people's songs because it's not about me or my battle. I think you get a little respect for writing your own records. Usually, you come out with a debut that someone else has written and then you don't start writing your own tunes until your third or fourth album. I find it quite easy coming out and having written my own songs, rather than challenging.

When you attended school in Tottenham, you were the only white kid in your class. How did that experience shape your musical taste?

When I was growing up, I had a huge family and they're all music lovers - but not the top ten and stuff. We didn't know anything but popular music. I'm a huge fan of pop. Through my friend's mum is how I found out about Mary J. Blige, and the Fugees, and stuff like that. I guess without that, I probably wouldn't be into R&B that wasn't only in the charts.

You have a very distinct sound. How would you describe it?

I'll probably describe it as like an old soul voice - like an old person's voice in a young folk. It's the artists that I love. I love Etta James and I love Roberta Flack and Ella Fitzgerald. I adore them so much, that it's kind of in me now, in my voice. I taught myself how to sing by listening to them.