Rebecca's journey from The X Factor to the ex factor for soulful new album

The soulful Liverpool diva with something extra that lifted her beyond the runner-up's spot in the 2010 series of The X Factor has followed up her 2015 take on Billie Holiday's Great American songbook with her fourth album, Superwoman, released last Friday.

As can be heard when Rebecca plays York Barbican next Friday, the record was forged from heartbreak and a tale of a lover’s abandonment in 2014, combined with the bittersweet joy of giving birth to his child. The X Factor has made way for the ex factor.

“Superwoman is honest and emotionally complex; I found strength and security writing this album,” she says.

"I learnt to embrace my vulnerability and accept it as a strength," says Rebecca

“It’s my most personal album ever and it’s brought me to a place in my life where I feel strong. I called it Superwoman because I learnt to embrace my vulnerability and accept it as a strength.”

The album is billed as "the ultimate soundtrack for anyone who has ever had to build themselves back up after a heartbreak", recorded by a Rebecca who is "stronger, happier and more fearless than ever before".

"I think I'm a different person now. When I left The X Factor, I was new to the industry and I also was suffering extreme stage fright. I'd just turned 24, now I'm 30, and when I go on stage I'm a confident person," says Rebecca, who still cut a shy figure when she first performed at York Barbican in March 2012.

"I'm not thinking, 'what if they don't like me?'. I'm going on stage thinking I'm going to have fun and the audience are going to have fun with me. On that first tour I was nervous, but on my last tour we danced, we giggled, we had fun and we got everyone up to have a good dance."

"The best thing you can do on stage is be honest," says Rebecca

How has Rebecca changed? "I just think I'm growing as an artist, knowing what kind of show you want to put on, knowing what you want to say to the audience, and now I've done plenty of shows, I can say, 'actually I don't like that; I want to do it this way', whereas when you come off The X Factor, it's hard to establish yourself straightaway," she says.

"The best thing you can do on stage is be honest; portray yourself honestly rather than over-rehearsing your lines, what you're going to say. Even if a performer is shy, it can be fascinating to watch them when they're so crippled by stage fright."

The confidence Rebecca now brings to her stage show is reflected in her recordings too."I love the complete freedom of jazz music," she says, recalling how making her Billie Holiday album had such an impact on her. "I love that freedom, where they would say, if you make a mistake, or mess up, just make it up: it's showing it's OK to be human.

"I do a lot of orchestral things too and it's all helped me to develop as an artist. It was suggested to me that I should do that Billie Holiday record; I'd studied Billie in college, but I'll be honest: it took me time to warm to the idea of doing the album because I want to write my own songs. But I listened to the songs and said, 'OK, we'll make some demos, and if I like them, let's do the record'."

"I was nervous because they might have thought I was rubbish," recalls Rebecca

Sure enough, Rebecca loved them and then decided: "If we're going to do it, let's do it properly. So we worked with musicians in Los Angeles who'd worked with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Sammy Davis Jr, and they were such perfectionists. They'd stop the recording and say 'let's do it again', as they wanted to it to be just right, and they were cool to hang out with too.

"I was nervous because they might have thought I was rubbish, but they were great and really lovely," says Rebecca, who was heavily pregnant when she made the record. "That actually relaxed me when I sang!"

Now comes Superwoman, an album produced by Troy Miller, who has worked previously with Mark Ronson and the late Amy Winehouse, and featuring collaborations with Jonny Lattimer, Negin Djafari and past collaborator Eg White, whose credits include Adele, Florence + The Machine and Sam Smith.

"Most of the songs were completely written by me and all of them were recorded in Britain. I got offered Los Angeles again but I said, 'No, I want it to be done in the UK', so I made the record in Troy's garden studio. It was all very English and organic," says Rebecca.

Rebecca Ferguson's album cover for Superwoman

"It's a soul pop record, with some members of my old band playing on there, but mainly Troy, who used to be Amy Winehouse's musical director and can play everything."

Analysing the new songs, their titles, such as Mistress, Bones, The Way You're Looking At Her, Pay For It, Don't Want You Back and Superwoman, tell a story in themselves. "It only gets more personal with my songwriting," says Rebecca.

"It's always personal, but this album has a bit more edge to it. I push it a little more than before, talking about relationships in a frank way."

Where might Rebecca turn next for inspiration? She has moved to Paris with her three children after falling in love with the French capital of couture and romance on several trips there, so beaucoup chansons d'amour could be on their way.

Rebecca Ferguson plays York Barbican on October 28, 7.30pm. Tickets update: still available on 0844 854 2757, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.