Estelle ''broke down'' while recording her new album.

The 'American Boy' hitmaker penned her latest record, 'All of Me', as her relationship with an unnamed keyboard player was coming to an end and admits getting to grips with the personal material was hard.

She said: ''I wrote and recorded the album when I was still with my ex, so the songs are based on what I was going through at the end of our relationship. It was about turning a negative into a positive.

''But being open about how I felt in front of producers and engineers, breaking down in the middle of a session and learning not to care what people thought was a huge challenge.''

Estelle, 32, says her record is very honest and it is easy to work out The Emotions she was feeling during recording.

She told Zest magazine: ''With 'All of Me', when it sounds like I'm smiling, I am. And when it sounds like I'm having the worst day of my life, I am. There's absolutely no shame in that, it's just being human.''