Emeli Sande wants her new album to be like a "battery pack" for fans to "plug into" whenever they need a lift.
The 32-year-old singer releases ‘Real Life’ on September 13, and she has opened up about how her aim is to make listeners feel "affected for the better" through her music.
In an interview with Britain’s The I newspaper, Emeli said: "I really believe in the power of music.
"And I wanted this album to be a battery pack for the listener: plug it in, and by the end of it you will feel different in some way, affected for the better. I know I do."
Emeli studied for a medical degree at Glasgow University and is even a qualified neurologist, and although she could have easily pursued a career as a doctor, she was attracted to the "creative freedom" of the music industry.
She said: "I could have been a doctor and affected people that way. I often still think: ‘Could I be more useful somewhere else?’ Because, you know, there is a lot of compromise in working in music. But then I love the creative freedom that singing brings.
"I don’t care about being cool any more. I just want to sing – to get it out there. To be loud."
The ‘Next to Me’ hitmaker’s uplifting album comes after "doubted" whether she should continue as a musician while battling anxiety and depression after she split from husband Adam Gouraguine in 2013.
Emeli didn’t think she was "depressed" at the time but later "realised" after looking back on that time in her life that she was struggling and had "lost [her] confidence", after she and the marine biologist broke up within 12 months of marriage.
She said: "I doubted whether I wanted to continue being a musician. I questioned whether people wanted to hear me, because people were saying I was on TV too much. People said I was overexposed, and then I thought, ‘Maybe I don’t have a place in this music industry, and if people don’t want to hear it, what shall I do?’
"I was going through my separation, and really trying to get my head around the industry and where I sat in it.
"It was everything all at once, and I lost my confidence. Even though I was shy as a kid, I was very confident about what I wanted to do, and I worked to try to make it happen.
"The saddest part, when someone’s suffering like that, is you lose your natural personality and the confidence goes.
"People who really knew me, they could have seen but, me? I was thinking: ‘I’m just tired and stressed.’ At the time, I was like, ‘I’m not depressed,’ but looking back this year, and knowing how I am now as a person, I’ve realised.
"I never had therapy, and that would have fast-tracked [things]. It’s scary because it’s like quicksand if you don’t recognise it."
Emeli Sande aims to uplift fans with new album
