Nathan Sykes has "surprised" himself with his new music.
The former The Wanted member – who has been working on solo material since the group decided to take a hiatus last year – said he wanted to create a straightforward sound with his debut album but has been shocked by how good the music he has made is.
He shared: "I’m still classing this as a pop album. It was never my mission to do something unexpected, I just wrote music and didn’t set any limits and if I’m completely honest I have even surprised myself!"
The 21-year-old musician – who was in The Wanted along with Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Tom Parker – has worked with a range of other song-writing talents on his new material including Diane Warren and Babyface, which were experiences he described as "surreal".
He explained: "Working with Diane Warren and Babyface was two of the most surreal days of my life. There is never a dull moment with Diane and she is one of my favourite people on the planet and the session with Babyface produced probably the most honest and emotional song I’ve ever written!"
However, the singer confessed the album has been a struggle to make because much of the inspiration came from the heartbreak he felt after his four-month romance with ‘Problem’ hitmaker Ariana Grande came to an end in late 2013.
He told The Sun newspaper: "The time we broke up was really tough. The Wanted decided to take a break and I lost my grandad. I was not in the best place. She was my first grown-up relationship. But sometimes you have to go into a place like that to be able to find the best music out of it.
"The most emotional song is about me telling myself not to be angry at the break-up because sometimes things just don’t work out. That’s life."
Despite having worked on the LP for over a year, Nathan is not expecting it to be released until later in the year, but hopes to give his fans a taste of his solo sound with a single in the next few months.
He told Hunger TV: "When can you expect it!? I think that you will probably get the album towards the end of 2015 but we are looking to get my first single to you all within the first few months of the year!"
Nathan Sykes ‘surprised’ by his new music
