'I think this is my best work': Will Young talks ahead of Birmingham show

The making of Lexicon lit a real spark of creativity for Young, his work liberated by the freedom of working on the independent label Cooking Vinyl for the first time.

It was created partly by reuniting with the team behind his 2011 album Echoes, including producers and songwriters Richard X, Jim Eliot and Mima Stilwell, and also partly by teaming up with the likes of Eg White (Adele, Florence + The Machine), new talent Boy Matthews (Zayn, Duke Dumont), Danny Shah (David Guetta, Kylie Minogue) and Tom Walker.

The 40-year-old South Londoner hasn’t spent the time between albums twiddling his thumbs.

Young has been a vocal campaigner for the LGBTQ movement, including promoting inclusive children’s books on Cbeebies and recording his LGBT podcast Homo Sapiens, that he co-created and co-presents with filmmaker and friend Chris Sweeney.

Now he is back in music, the medium in which he claimed four number one and two number two albums, two Brit Awards and four UK number one singles.

Young is proud of his new record: “It was an absolute pleasure to work on it. It’s very soundscapey; it’s almost luxe pop.

“I’ve worked with Richard X before and thoroughly enjoyed that. Now I think this is my best record.

“The sounds on the record are fantastic. Richard’s very precise. So it’s lovely to be releasing an album that I feel has such quality in it. That’s all I can do, really; release something that I’m pleased with and might choose to listen to.”

He’s thrilled to be back on the road.

“The tour will be really fun,” he says. “It will be a show of two parts. I’ve just been working on the creative aspects of that, which I love. I’m interested in the musicians and about how I perform.

“Because I’ve done a lot of theatre, the shows are becoming more theatrical. I like that people don’t have to take the shows too seriously.

“Last time, I started with the finale, which I quite enjoyed. This show has two acts, so I can do a different creative work for both halves. I’m having a lot of laughs with it.”

Young has worked hard to give himself a good work/life balance and these days he avoids the intense scheduling that might lead to burnout.

“I get loads of downtime,” he continues. “I make sure that I do. I work a four-day week and I make sure I have time to do other things.

“I’m doing the music for a musical drama with the director of The Greatest Showman. I’ve been doing that for three or four years. I’ve got lots of variation in what I do and that keeps everything exciting.

“That’s what I love about the job. I have a lot to do.”

He is also working on his next book, which has the working title How To Be A Gay Man. It’s semi-autobiographical and focuses on the shame people feel as part of a minority group.

“The narrative explores how that creates internalised gay shame,” he says. “I give reflections on it and also write about how I came out of that.”

Young has enjoyed a remarkable career, though he looks forward rather than back.

What I try to do is be as authentic as possible,” he continues.

“When I do my mental health talks, I don’t go in with any intentions, I just try to share. I’ve found that that’s the best way to do them – it’s the best way to do music too.”