Kate Nash's 'girl group' album

Nash began to seriously write songs when she was laid up with a broken foot

It's never good to be loved up when you're making an album - songs about emotional turmoil and strife are always more exciting than songs about how secure and fuzzy you feel.

Happily in a relationship with Ryan Jarman, frontman of Wakefield indie scamps The Cribs, it'd be all too easy for Nash to leave the bitter backbiting wit that characterised her debut Made Of Bricks off her second album. Luckily, she knows this too.

"I think you should always have roughness in there," laughs the singer when Newsbeat reveals our concerns, "'cause it's quite human".

"Yeah, obviously, I'm happy in a relationship and it's really nice, and it's good to write about love and stuff, but I think you can always characterise different things.

If I was like, 'Hey guys, I'm going experimental', there wouldn't really be anything they could do Nash explains that she's had no pressure from her label

"There are a couple of tracks that are quite nice," she adds, drawing out the word like it's something embarrassing, "but I want to keep raw stuff in there, 'cause it should never just be about you - you shouldn't be self-indulgent about things."

'Girl group' sound

The north London singer, most famous for Foundations, which hung around at number two in the singles' chart for an age last year, is keen to change the sound on her second album.

She's currently writing songs for the record and told Newsbeat that she wants a harder edge but also more of a 'girl group' sound on the new tracks.

"I've got this rehearsal room - I've booked it out for six months - and it's good, 'cause I can go in there whenever I want and there's a piano in there and drums," Nash explains.

"I'm just playing bits of everything and hanging out by myself, and then inviting different people down to play with me just to change the atmosphere a bit, but it's going really well.

"I've got about like 10 songs down and when I listen to them together I feel pleased," she adds, "'cause I've got like melodies and stuff that feels girl groupy, then I've also got stuff that has got a bit of a harder edge."

'No pressure'

Kate Nash won a Brit Award for best female artist in February

She might write her own songs and push boundaries with her lyrics, but Nash is undoubtedly a pop star.

Her debut reached the top of the charts and she's got the essential rock star boyfriend.

So you wouldn't be surprised if you heard that her record label was forcing her to write a pop follow-up against her will, something Nash herself denies.

"I'm just writing and there's no kind of pressure at the minute," she says. "It's easier when there's no pressure, you can just do stuff whenever you want.

"I'm really lucky, I'm glad I picked the right label [Fiction Records]," she laughs, "because they see me as a long-term thing.

"Obviously, they want me to do well, but if I was like, 'Hey guys, I'm going experimental', there wouldn't really be anything they could do 'cause that's not really why they signed me!"

Nash might be heading into the recording studio next spring, but don't expect her to tour anytime soon.

"It's good to have a break [from touring], do you know what I mean?" Nash says. "Because then you crave just doing stuff again.

"In January I want to do a bit of travelling, and then I want to record for ages. I want to work hard and do an album and then feel excited to tour."

Kate Nash was talking to Newsbeat reporter Chris Smith.