Mollie King on writing a break-up album about THAT guy: "I was in a vicious cycle" 

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It\'s one Mollie King - the blonde Saturday - will be facing in the coming months, following their release of her debut single \'Back To You\'.

The new music comes after the breakdown of her high-profile relationship with British model David Gandy - and it\'s clear to notice almost immediately it has inspired her songwriting.

Digital Spy caught up with Mollie to chat about her new single, how heartbreak informs her first solo project, and assure us all of The Saturdays\' future plans.

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Why did you decide on \'Back To You\' as your big solo launch single?

"For ages I was going down quite a different route. I knew that I wanted to always do pop, because that\'s my true love. But for ages I was trying to do stuff that sounded exactly like Saturdays songs. Upbeat floor fillers - that kind of thing. I played people stuff and they were going down well, but it wasn\'t until I came in with \'Back To You\' that I had gone away from the brief we\'d set at the start when I first got signed.

"I played it to Darcus (President of Island Records) and he was like, \'Oh my god, did you write this?\' I was like, \'Yeah, I did\' and he was like, \'We have to go for this as the single\'. It\'s hard if you\'ve been in the studio for so long to have a neutral outlook on it all, because you\'re so involved with each track. But with this one, I have a huge emotional attachment to it."

Do you think it\'s what fans expected of you?

"There were rumours for a while that I was going to come out with a disco record. I don\'t know what\'s possibly started that, but I love to dance and I love upbeat tracks and am known for being a massive pop fan, so I think they just thought it would be down that kind of route. 

"But for me, this is the kind of music I listen to. So much of the time, people turn their nose up at pop, because they think it\'s not cool or credible. But it\'s called pop because it\'s popular and it can be credible. It\'s really hard to write a hit."

There have been lots of tabloid stories written about your past relationships, so how aware of that are you when you\'re writing about personal experiences in your music?

"With \'Back To You\', I was actually going to cancel the session on the day because I was feeling really down. I was just going through a bit of a tough time. But I went in and just said to them, \'Can we just write how I\'m feeling?\' 

"We didn\'t work to a track and just got on a piano and wrote what felt, at the time, like a ballad. It was exactly how I was feeling - I didn\'t even think about the press and how people would react to it - but I was just in this vicious cycle with this guy. It wasn\'t until I sat and listened back to it a month later that you think, \'Oh I wonder how people will react to that?\' I\'ll worry about that later."

It sounds like you\'ve written a bit of a break-up album?

relationship, but they\'re all coming in at different angles. Some of them are a lot more positive, while others are sad. But I guess a lot of it is heartache, but that\'s where I\'ve been over the last few months. 

"I\'ve been single and it gives you that time to reflect on relationships you\'ve had in the past. I\'ve really learnt through doing this that I\'m so much better at writing songs that are about actual things I\'m going through, rather than trying to write a scenario that has never happened to me."

Well it makes the music more believable. Look at Adele and Amy Winehouse.

So you\'ve really thrown yourself into the creation process?

"So far I\'ve written on every single song - just because I\'m very specific about the lane I want to go down. I\'m not too precious that if someone sends in a great song that I love, then I\'d love to do it. But so far, I\'ve been dictating which way it goes. So maybe once people hear what direction I\'ve gone in, they\'ll send in similar ones as well. I\'m very open to that. If it\'s a banger, I\'ll take it!"

It\'s been two years since The Saturdays went on a break, but did you feel pressure to put solo music out sooner?

"I wanted to get out there and keep performing as much as I could, but I knew I had to take some time away and write great songs. There is a lot pressure coming out of a successful band to then go and do it on your own. I do feel like there are eyes on me watching. 

"This first single has to be great. So as much as I wanted to get back out there on stage, I needed to take the time away. My biggest love is performing, but looking back it was definitely the right decision."

"I\'ve always felt like I\'ve been The Saturdays\' number one fan. I loved being in The Saturdays and I still love being a Saturday now. But when we sat down and decided to have a little bit of a rest, music was all I wanted to do. Nothing else even came into my head. So if we\'re not going to do this as a band for a couple of years, then I\'m going to do this on my own. And it\'s exciting. Definitely as a kid it was a dream to be a popstar on my own - like a Kylie or somebody like that. It\'s always appealed to me."

Right, can you fully assure us that The Saturdays are just on a break and haven\'t secretly broken up?

"We are all still The Saturdays and we\'re always going to be a band. We haven\'t got any set in stone dates to do anything at the moment, but we\'re all speaking to each other all the time. At this moment, though, we haven\'t got anything planned."

Let\'s talk Spice Girls GEM. Do you think it\'s the right thing for just three of them to reunite?

"I love the Spice Girls. I had the posters on my wall, I thought I was definitely Baby Spice obviously, and I went to see them in concert when it was all five. I was really young though. For me, the Spice Girls is always a five-piece. But if they can come out with bangers like \'Wannabe\' then go for it as a three. It is tough. Anyone who has ever been a Spice Girls fan will always be a Spice Girls fan - like, I\'d always want to see what they\'re coming up with."

If The Saturdays found themselves in a similar position, would you do it?

"For us we\'d have to do it with all five. Obviously we\'ve done gigs where there\'s been four of us because one\'s on maternity leave. But it\'d have to be five for sure."

Mollie King\'s debut single \'Back To You\' will be available to stream and download on August 19.

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