will.i.am's "fire" was almost exposed to the audience on 'The Voice' when his trousers fell down

The hip-hop star - whose real name is William Adams - told fans off-camera, according to The Sun newspaper: "S**t sorry my fire popped out. You would have seen my fire.

"I was running down the stairs to get here so it popped out. I needed to sort it out."

Despite his embarrassing wardrobe malfunction, will has plenty of reasons to feel cheerful at the moment, as he recently announced he was working on an "exciting" new project with the Black Eyed Peas, following their 2011 hiatus.

Speaking at the launch of the new series of 'The Voice UK', he shared: "I don't want to say the word album because that just dates you, but we're doing a new project. It's really exciting."

will was noticeably coy about the project but suggested that his love of technology would form an important part of the band's new material.

He explained: "It's the best time to be creative right now with all the tools and folks doing what's best for themselves and creating in different mediums.

"I'm staying very vague but I'm so excited about the stuff we're going to do this year.

"And I love tech, so it's going to be jam-packed with some awesome f***ing tech."

The Black Eyed Peas - which also includes apl.de.ap, Taboo and singer Fergie - has already sold an estimated 76 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling groups in history.

However, the band have not released an album since 'The Beginning' in 2010.