‘X Factor’ Singer Rebecca Ferguson on Her ‘Abusive’ Music Industry Experience and Sympathizing With Britney Spears

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman It’s been seven years since “The X Factor” runner-up Rebecca Ferguson last put out a record. Despite her hiatus from the industry, Ferguson never walked away from music, instead using her downtime to craft songs in a more spontaneous way. “It was me organically calling up people saying, ‘Should we do a session?’ over seven years, very sporadically,” Ferguson tells Variety. “I got to the point where I was like, I do need to get an album out.

Then I thought, ‘But I’ve got an album.’” The result is “Heaven Part II,” which, according to the accompanying press release, is an exploration of “love, family, joy, liberation and Rebecca’s journey to happiness.” Over the past seven years, Ferguson has experienced a number of ups and downs, from personal and professional break-ups (including with her former management company) as well as a new marriage and a new baby, but she was still able to relate to some of the earliest – and most heartbreaking – tracks on the record. “’You Don’t Have to Leave’ is actually my favourite song I’ve ever written,” Ferguson says. “When I initially wrote that song I was so sad, I was in such a dark place.

When I listened back to the original recording, you could just really sense the sadness in my voice.” The record is significant in other ways too.

For a start, she’s releasing it without the backing of a major record label, affording her an independence that she credits with allowing her to remain in the industry. “I always felt like I needed like this big company or someone to do it for me in a way,” she says.