Ella Henderson has taken a decade to build her confidence up

She told The Sun on Sunday newspaper's Bizarre column: "I knew I wasn't the perfect-looking Polly Pocket pop princess star. But I have found my feet at 28.

"It has taken ten years to get where I am with my confidence."

The 'Alibi' hitmaker had written songs for a number of years but previously admitted that in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, she had lost her confidence in composing and it only came back when the lockdowns were in place and she suddenly felt ready to sit down at the piano.

Speaking on the 'White Wine Question Time' podcast, she said: "Slowly I could hear my mum and dad's feet in the hallway, listening at the door.

"Eventually they came in and they both started crying. And then I started crying because it was a big moment.

"We were just sat there like, you've gone from wanting to quit, we've gone through all this and we've gone through this whole journey as well as a family in the background."

Ella also admitted that prior to that moment, she had been ready to quit the industry.

She added: "I was going to quit music, just before lockdown. I was at the mindset of if every day I wake up [and] feel this heaviness... music for a while didn't feel like it always did."