Live Lounge month: Five questions for Michael Kiwanuka

Ahead of the release of his second album, Love and Hate, Michael Kiwanuka said he didn't enjoy sitting down to write it.

But he's feeling a bit differently after it went to number one and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

"I turned out alright. But deep down I'm a bit of a worrier," he explains after his session as part of Radio's Live Lounge month.

"All I think is 'wow this has gone well, but it's downhill from here'."

He says that changing his approach to the album made him more comfortable.

"I trust my creative process now, I've got way more confidence in what I'm doing.

"One of the main changes was being open to collaborating and showing people my writing process.

"It's quite a private place but through getting over that it helped me get out of ruts and patterns, that were pulling me down.

"I'll probably still make some bad music from time to time but I'm in it for the long haul now."

As well as discussing his new approach to music, we asked Michael these five questions.

Which song by another artist do you wish you'd written?

Michael's a big Kanye fan

"Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve is one I wish I wrote, that or Hotline Bling [by Drake].

"I feel like if I wrote those songs I'd be the coolest guy around, more swag points.

"But one between them might be Lost in the World [by Kanye West ft Bon Iver] on [the album] My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

"I'm a big Justin Vernon [Bon Iver] fan so that's the one.

"When I hear that it encompasses everything, final answer."

Where was your first gig and how many people were there?

Michael's first gig was at The Oxford in Kentish Town, London

"It was a cheat because I put it on myself. Me and my friends did it.

"All our family came so there was about 40 people there but we'd rung up our friends and said 'you need to come down'.

"No-one would have me and we could book the place out for free.

"It was a wicked night but it was kind of cheating."

What's been the most surreal fan moment?

"Lenny Kravitz came to a gig in Los Angeles about five months ago.

"My tour manager told me he was there but she's pretty sarcastic so I just carried on having a beer and he just walked in.

"I didn't really know what to do but he was nice.

"He looks like a waxwork, I've never met anyone as handsome as Lenny Kravitz it's unbelievable."

When was your last day off and what did you do with it?

"My last day off was about a week ago.

"I've just come back from my honeymoon in Sicily for 10 days.

"I was just hanging out eating pasta, pretty good day off."

What is something - apart from your phone or wallet - that has to be in your vicinity at all times?

"I have boring stuff with me. I hate change so there's never any change in my pocket, I don't have anything interesting.

"Today though I've had the lyrics for the cover [Ariana Grande's Into You] in my pocket all day.

"Actually - I do always carry around the lyrics to an Ariana Grande song.

"It just brings me down to earth, helps me write songs and makes me up my game basically."

Watch all the performances from Live Lounge month here.

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