10 MINUTES WITH

After what seems like far too long away from live performing, Olly Murs is back out on the road with the two little words fans have been desperate to hear… Marry Me.

It’s an offer which the self-styled Murs Army has said yes to in their thousands since his huge UK Arena tour started in Glasgow back in April, and in August it will be the turn of Liverpool to welcome pop’s most loveable Mr Nice Guy.

This tour comes on the back of his chart-topping album of the same name, his first new studio album in four years.

It’s been selling out dates across the country, but then that’s no surprise when you look at his incredible career track record: 6 multi-platinum albums, 4 number 1 UK albums, 4 number 1 UK singles, 6 million Spotify monthly listeners, 800 million YouTube views and 1.8 million tour tickets sold.

Not bad for a lad from Essex who revealed, just a year after coming second on X Factor in 2009, that the deal he’d made with himself at the time had been: "I would sing everywhere, I would go to every corner of the country and earn as much as I could. That way I might be able to get a house and maybe even put some money in the bank, and then I would go home and get back to normal life.”

Life has been anything but normal since, and now aged 39 his career is flying as high as ever. He’s hosted ITV’s Starstruck, helping aspiring members of the public make their musical dreams come true alongside the likes of Adam Lambert, Jason Manford, Beverley Knight and Shania Twain.

And he returned for a fifth consecutive season to the famous swivel chair on the hit BBC talent show The Voice with fellow coaches Anne-Marie, Sir Tom Jones and will.i.am.

As Liverpool prepares for a proposal that definitely won’t be refused, The Navigator spent 10 minutes with a loved-up Olly Murs to find out more …

Marry Me was the first album after You Know I Know, how was it to be back and on a new label?

I won’t lie, I was against doing the hits album. That's why I made it a double album - the songs you know, the songs that I know - because I just wasn't ready for a hits album at that point in my career. It was just a weird time for me. I was still single, personal life was a little bit all over the place. Work life was good, overall, but with that album campaign, my heart wasn't really in it. But my heart's in it now.

How did the collab with David Stewart on Die of a Broken Heart happen?

I went to David’s studio in West London and we got into the writing together. That was really the start and the spearhead of everything. It gave me a direction of where the album could go. It has that steel drum at the intro, which just gets in your head straight away. It has a very Gotye, Somebody I Used to Know feel to it, with a touch of The Police – and just a coolness to it. That really excited me.

Did Marry Me feel different to all the albums you’ve done before?

With previous albums, I've done them in 12 weeks, 10 weeks, sometimes eight weeks, nonstop, jumping from studio to studio, benefiting from that injection of enthusiasm from someone new, that new producer, that new room – new lunch menu! This took the best part of two years, and we had space. That’s the best thing about this album: we were patient. We didn't waste time. We took our time. And when it felt good, we finished the song. When it didn't feel good, we moved on. There was no pressure. For this album, we did maybe 16 songs. That's mad – 16 songs in two years. But that's because we were focused. We took our time. Didn't overdo it. We spent just the right amount of time with each other. We didn't annoy each other. And it just ****ing worked!

The song I Found Her is for your fiancée Amelia, tell us about that …

I Found Her is a concept we had in the studio where the Earth is falling apart, buildings are falling down, and I’m desperately trying to get to Amelia to save her. It’s a fun take on finding the one. I was hearing Eighties-sounding songs in the charts like what The Weeknd was doing. That's where that big energy came from, all dramatic and Eighties-like.

This tour has been getting some amazing reviews – does that mean you’re back on top form now?

I’m back with a fresh mind, fresh enthusiasm, and fresh confidence. I've got my music. I know where I am now. People only see what's in the headlines, or what's on Instagram or Twitter. What they don't understand behind the scenes is that so much has been going on personally for me. So to know that I'm in the best place I've been in my life means that I can give my fans the best version of me.

Olly Murs Marry Me UK tour comes to the M&S Bank Arena Liverpool on Tuesday August 22.