I listen to a lot of Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears - the songs just stick in your head and that's what I want to achieve with my music.
My mates are absolute nutters. They're all Essex boys in the true sense and they definitely keep my feet on the ground.
I kind of write in a very classic way. I sit in the piano, working on some catchy, cool melodies and coming up with song concepts for those melodies. I kind of write in a very traditional way '- how people have written since the early '40s.
I think some people have this thing where just because you do singles that means you're not a real artist. It's like hold on a minute - I'm selling millions of records here and been streamed billions of times... How can I not be taken as a real artist just because these songs are singles?
I prank my manager. I tell him I've lost my passport, or I've lost my case, or I hide his case. He is so gullible, he is the most gullible person ever.
There's benefits of having established artists on the record, Liam Payne on 'Polaroid' for example. If you look at that song you have Lennon Stella, who's an up-and-coming artist, so there's a balance on there because I still want people to focus on the song just as much as Liam being an amazing superstar.
