Rising star Conor Maynard has hit back at claims that he's the next Justin Bieber and explained that he'd rather be original than strive to follow in the footsteps of someone else.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the 'Vegas Girl' singer revealed that his intentions were never to copy Bieber's style or sound because he wants to carve out his own niche:

"A lot of people had it in their minds that I was the next Justin Bieber. But I didn't want to follow anyone."

"I had to find out what kind of an artist I was, because I had never been in a studio, I hadn't even written a song. I had this motto, 'It's better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation'."

"I wanted to put my own unique stamp on everything because that was how I was successful on YouTube. I took covers and switched them up and did it my own way, and people became a fan of me rather than a fan of the songs."