John Newman has revealed that he needs some serious drama in his life in order to pen his chart-topping tunes.

Speaking to the Daily Star, the singer revealed: “I can’t write songs for the sake of it. I need them to be about something. After my success with Rudimental, I recovered from a brain tumour so I was feeling really happy.

“But then I split with my girlfriend and started writing songs anyone could identify with.

“I’ll need something like that to slam me in the face again before I can write more.”

Newman admits that the whole album ‘Tribute’ was written with this ex in mind, saying that sometimes she gets her own unwanted press as a result.

“She was in pieces when an interview with me was twisted to make it look like I’d cheated on her.

“I never did, and she rang me to say she knew that. She knows the whole album is about her.”

Newman also talked about other aspects of his songwriting, saying that he needs to have both the drama in the lyrics and the hook to make things interesting.

“I’m a total pop addict and all my songs need to have big hooks otherwise I get bored and switch off,” he said. “I’d have hated myself if every song on ‘Tribute’ wasn’t good enough to be a single.”

Watch the singer’s latest video for ‘Cheating’ below: