"He kept making jokes about that while we were recording," she recalls, laughing. "From my perspective, I was just so into making a record with him that the passion was easy to find. I didn’t want to let him down.

"Plus, the lyric is basically him saying that he doesn’t want to be with me any more. Who knows? Maybe it’s because he’s gay..."

Mutya: ’I’m more relaxed’ - April 5 2007
"I do love listening to this album," Mutya Buena says of her debut, Real Girl. "I always listened to the Sugababes stuff too. But this time, it’s different. It’s... me."

The singer, who left the Sugababes in 2005, played an intimate gig at London’s Borderline last night to give fans a taste of her solo album.

And while her performance on-stage was full of grit and confidence, she revealed she’s very nervous about how her music is received.

Splitting from the triple platinum pop group left her feeling vulnerable and she says she’s been using her MySpace page to try and gauge public reaction to her songs.

"Every so often I’d put up a track and let people hear it. I just wanted a taste of how people are gonna take me. It’s scary - coming out from such a successful group, not knowing what’s gonna happen to you."

But Mutya says that going it alone has given her the freedom to bring a host of different influences into her music.

"I grew up listening to so much different stuff, from the hard rock with Guns’n’Roses and Bon Jovi, and then my mum’s old soul collection... I had a brother into hip hop, another into jungle, another into garage and me into R&B and funky house. That’s why I can jump into different types of music."

The new album reflects that diversity with an array of big name collaborations from across the musical spectrum.

But despite her nervousness, the 24-year-old was confident enough to insist on keeping her sound slightly flawed.

"I like the rawness. I didn’t want to go into a studio and have them fiddling about with my vocals. I’m more relaxed with how I sing."

And Mutya’s also found the assurance to explore subjects which she wouldn’t have dealt with before.

She says of the track My Song: "There’s a part of the lyric where I’m talking to the taxi driver, asking him to get me the hell out of where I am in my life. People always notice the lines about Jesus helping me out. I’m not a preacher, but I do believe in God.

"This song has definitely helped me to look at other topics in my lyrics other than relationships and going out with the girls. It’s a song for people who feel life is crashing on them."

Perhaps it’s this determination to confront darker topics in her songs that marks the greatest departure from the Sugababes.

From drugs and depression, to spirituality and her love for her daughter, Mutya’s lyrics are hardly your average girl band fodder.

The track It’s Not Easy pays tribute to her little girl, Tahlia.

"I don’t need to tell people I love my daughter. They should know that. But it’s different explaining how deep it is, walking around with a big belly, not knowing what will come out, trying to figure it out from a scan."

And Mutya attributes her bond with her daughter to the collapse of her relationship with fellow Sugababes Keisha Buchanan and Heidi Range.

"I didn’t want anyone else bringing up my child. It’s hard explaining all this to someone who doesn’t have kids, and that’s where it went wrong with Keisha and Heidi... I made the choice to leave and I believe it was the right choice."

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