Rebecca Ferguson may not be allowed to talk about the legal battle with her former management company. But calling her second album Freedom is a pretty big indication of the way things have gone.

“This album is all about fighting back against everything that has ever brought you down – your childhood, people that didn’t believe in you,” she says.

“When I wrote it, I had so much going on personally. I look back at 2013 and think ‘Thank God you’re over!’ It was a weird time to write but I got through it.”

With news of her collapse on live television during a performance on ITV’s Loose Women two weeks ago, it’s clear the pressure on the singer is still high, but when she spoke to The Guide last month, she seemed to be taking everything in her stride.

“My songs are emotional but I always try to end them with positivity,” she says. “There’s nothing worse than listening to a song which is just depressing. It’s nice to have that glimmer of hope.”

This attitude is clear in the anthemic but very personal content of Freedom, released last December, which musically draws on classic soul sounds, while lyrically offers a message of survival no matter what life throws at you on songs such as Fake Smile and All That I’ve Got.

For Ferguson, music always provided an escape from a home life which saw her parents separate when she was young. Music took her out of her everyday life, and provided a goal which she always knew in her heart of hearts she would reach.

“I knew from when I was a little girl that this was what I would end up doing,” she says. “Nothing else felt right. I studied law [she is a qualified legal secretary] and gave it 100% but in my heart I knew it wasn’t what I was supposed to do.

“Music makes you feel like you’re not alone. With certain artists you connect with a song and think, ‘She knows how I feel’. You realise you’re not the only one going through things.

“I’m always conscious when I’m writing my songs to write honestly and think of the listener. I feel music should make people feel good.”

She may have come out of The X Factor school of covers and producer-driven albums but Ferguson insisted she took control of her work.

She has a writing credit on all but one of the tracks on her second album, the follow-up to 2011’s top three charting Heaven.

“I’ve always been involved in the lyrics, production and album artwork – every aspect of my music,” she says. “It’s not just about making money. It’s easy to get everyone else to do things but then they should be given credit as it’s not really you.”

She sees her X Factor experiences as part of what made her. Prior to coming second in the 2010 competition to Matt Cardle, she had lost out in previous X Factor and P Diddy’s Starmaker auditions.

“I think rejection is humbling,” she says. “Every artist should have rejection.

“I remember years ago there was a competition at Pontins where I sang my heart out and came second. I was so gutted but in my head there was this idea that you have to learn to lose before you can win. Rejection is part of the journey. If you haven’t learned that, you won’t know how to handle being successful.”

She has seen it in some of the big name stars she has met over the past few years.

“All the people I have met who have had careers lasting 30 years or more have been polite and lovely to everyone, from the person who brings their tea to the person who drives them,” she says.

“They treat everyone equally. You have to learn you’re not better than anyone else, you’ve just been blessed with talent.”

She’s also had to deal with the downsides of fame – in particular the media.

“A few times I’ve been called by my PR and been told some footballer has said he’s dated me, when I haven’t even met them.

“You take it all with a pinch of salt,” she says. “At first I took it really personally – I’d start crying when a story wasn’t true. Now I look at something and think, ‘It’s just part of it, it’s just another story.”

She believes her home town is looking after her too.

“The worst thing you can be in Liverpool is a tell-tale,” she says. “It’s ingrained in us from birth. It’s so frowned upon to sell a story – you would be looked on as the lowest of the low.

“I’ve been lucky so far – not to say it won’t happen – but I didn’t go through what some of the other people on The X Factor did. You hear a lot of gossip in Liverpool, but it will always stay in Liverpool.”

As for the future, she is looking forward to her return visit to Brighton and is already thinking about her third album.

“I’m planning on starting this month,” she says. “I just feel like I’m ready to write again.”

Support from Philippa Hanna and Vanquish.

  • Rebecca Ferguson is at Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, on Wednesday, March 19. Doors 6.45pm, tickets from £26.50. Call 01273 709709.