Nicola Roberts has revealed that finishing her debut solo album, 'Cinderella's Eyes', with just a five day deadline made her really ill. 

The 'Lucky Day' star explained to The Sun newspaper that along with her producer, Dimitri Tikovi, she worked continuously on the record and was desperate to perfect it but struggled with recreating what she imagined in her head:

"I could hear it in my head but I couldn't do it. Me and Dimitri were in the studio and we were making ourselves ill – we might as well just have slept there. We were searching for this sound and we tried everything. We were putting these voices down and then f****** them up with the effects, and then playing some hooks and then f****** them up."

"It just wouldn't work. It got to the point where I came down with a cold and I was like, 'I'm making myself ill.' I've never felt stress like the stress I felt making this record."

She also said that it wasn't until she reached breaking point that she decided to get producer Diplo on board, adding:

"Then I said, 'I know who can do this. I really want Diplo to come on board. As soon as I explained to Diplo what I wanted, he just got it straight away. It came back the way I wanted it to be and the way I heard it in my head."

"I am a perfectionist in that way but only because it's my record and I've been given this amazing opportunity so it has to be how I want it."

Watch her perform 'I' for an NME live session below: