James Bay enjoyed having some time off with family so he could take time out from being "James Bay the pop star".

Speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards in London on Thursday the 19.05.16, James, 25, exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I had a little break recently and the song is about missing people that I grew up around and to some extent it is about that. I've got to see some of those people recently, it's been a couple of years since I've got to do that. I just did family stuff.

"In a world where we've got to post about everything we do, although I don't choose to do that too much, you need it. What we did was very boring but that was special to me, I hope and think that's special to everyone. It's nice to just be James the person, rather than James Bay the pop star."

James - who grew up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire with his older brother Alex Bay and their parents - still finds it the "strangest" thing to be recognised on the street by his fans.

He said: "It's always weird being recognised in the town where you're from, where you grew up your whole life. So that's probably the strangest place - for me where I'm recognised."

Meanwhile, James - who was presented with the PRS for Music Most Performed Work prize at the Ivor Novello Awards held at the Grosvenor House hotel in London - admits he's focused on performing live right now, but has a few ideas for songs to follow up his critically-acclaimed debut LP 'Chaos And The Calm'.

He said: "I'm so busy playing live at the moment, but I have the beginnings of a lot of new songs and I find that very exciting," he said.

"But doing it in a tour bus isn't really the best environment. When I've got a bit more free time I'll really dig in."