** The album has been put back a few times and people were wondering, why is that?**
It’s just because we put a date on it and it wasn’t ready. I guess the lesson there is finish the album then put a date on it, so that was a lesson learned. But I just put so much pressure on myself and everyone else was putting pressure on me and then once I got hit by the car it was just realistically not going to happen, really wasn’t. Like, I had three months off because of my leg and ridiculous painkillers. I can’t take anti-inflammatories so it was like slow release morphine, codeine, tramadol… I was seeing people that weren’t there, like my skin was itching. And then I had to do all the rehab for the leg and I was down.
**Some people don’t realise how much you went through with that… **
No, no. And I was down, like really down, not in a good place. And then I had the wedding, and then I got knicked. Like, I’m entitled to live my life a bit and if anything that’s given me more to talk about. So ultimately it was for the better and I feel better. I feel ready for it now, which I wasn’t before.
The album’s called ‘Growing Up In Public’. Tell us about that…
Yeah I came into everything at 26- I became successful at 26, that was when I started doing well, so I was already quite grown up, maybe not as much as I should have been at 26, in some ways I was. But yeah it was quite jovial at the beginning. It was quite a tongue-in-cheek title that I came up with a couple of years ago and then quite a lot of things happened to me in the last 18 months that actually I had to go through quite a lot publically. So it became somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, it has a little bit more meaning than it did in the beginning.
What’s the most important piece of advice you’ve got in the last few years with regards to growing up?
Do you know what? It’s the same thing I always say. It was a long time ago and it was something Skinnyman said to me: “A real friend will never be a hindrance to you” and that stuck with me.
Do you have any hidden tattoos?
No, no.
We wanted the inside track on your hidden tramp stamp that no one else knows about.
I’ve got a frog on the back of my b*****k.
Have you?!
No, no!
Do you ever have Made in Chelsea on the planner to record?
Nooooo.
It’s like watching Millie's mates I guess, it wouldn’t be much fun.
She’s only friends with one of them, so…
Ha! Would you guys ever do reality TV again? You did a 4Music series before.
It was more documentary. It was following what was happening on the lead up to the second album. Together? I don’t know. I don’t think so. Never say never but I just think it’s a bit... It’s such dangerous territory, you know what I mean? I enjoy maintaining a little bit of integrity. And I think once you invite people into your life like that, a little bit, everything is expected to be in the open and we’ve always been quite private.
Do you get fed up of everyone asking about your relationship, or is it just part of being a celebrity couple?
I’ve always liked my privacy, but some people are like, “Shut up, it does you good” and I’m like, “It doesn’t”. It doesn’t sell me a single f**king record and I sold a lot of records beforehand. But I’m cool with it now I just embrace it.
What’s your favourite green thing?
Favourite green thing? Few years ago I would have given you a different answer. My favourite green thing? Is it kale? Na not that much, I still don’t like kale. Um… F***ing hell my favourite green thing. What do I like that’s green? [Friend shouts, “green juice”] Yeah, that’s right I do love a green juice. And also you trick yourself into thinking you’ve undone all the bad you did at the weekend in that one green juice on a Monday morning.
If you were a real professor what would your subject be?
Philosophy? Probably I am quite philosophical
**You’re a great supporter of UK acts, especially on twitter. Is there anyone out there that you think is getting a bit too much credit? **
No not anyone in particular but I just think that there’s a lot of songs that sound exactly the same at the moment. This whole EDM thing, it’s just like cheap dance music. Some of it’s brilliant, some of it’s f***ing horrendous. There needs to be more variety, variety is the spice of life after all.
Did you get your money back for that mouldy veg from Sainsbury’s you tweeted about?
They asked me if I had a Nectar Card because they were going to credit that. I don’t have a Nectar Card but I will get one. I normally do shop at the farmer’s market but it was literally a rush thing, I needed something to cook before I went out, grabbed it without even looking, took it back and looked at it like, “Great… No veg for me”
And how on earth do you brush your teeth with a towel [as he tweeted at Bestival]?
It’s more like a polish. I did buy a tooth brush later on in the day, it was just a matter of urgency I couldn’t leave the... without…