Budapest, Barcelona and Brum for George Ezra as he heads for Birmingham gig

George is one of the biggest selling male artists of the decade. He has a big year in store, following the release last week of his second album, Staying At Tamara’s.

It follows his debut, Wanted On Voyage, which was certified four times platinum in the UK, and was amongst the top 10 biggest selling artist albums in this country in both 2014 and 2015, reaching number one in the UK chart and spending 122 weeks in the chart overall.

In little more than 18 months George went from virtual unknown to one of the international breakthrough artists of recent times: taking in a top 10 album in 10 countries; three sold out UK tours; nominations for four Brits, one BBC Music Award and an Ivor Novello.

George returned last summer with a new single Don’t Matter Now and the sold out, tongue-in-cheek-titled Top Secret Tour, and a summer of festival performances at Glastonbury, V Festival, TRNSMT and the Isle of Wight among others.

George’s new album features a collection of ‘songs about escapism, dreaming, anxieties and love’.

Just like Wanted On Voyage, Staying At Tamara’s was written, created and inspired by George’s travels, including spells on the Isle of Skye; at a pig farm in Norfolk; in a former cornflour shed in Kent; a converted cow shed in north Wales; and in an Airbnb in Barcelona owned by the Tamara of the album’s title. The result is a finger-snapping, brass-blaring, wind-in-the-hair album that shines with positivity and encouragement, alongside moments of more subdued reflection.

George says: “Paradise started life as a melody that I couldn’t get out of my head . . . Months later I set to writing a song highlighting the undeniable feeling of meeting somebody new and falling for them. We often find ourselves second guessing feelings that we have and trying to work out what it is that they might mean. But with love there is no uncertainty, it is what it is and I liken it to paradise.”

George will follow his Birmingham show with a tour of Europe, Canada and the USA, which will continue until May.

The star is riding in the slipstream of other huge-selling acts like Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran – though he’s found it difficult to come to terms with his fame. At one stage, Ed told George to get rid of his mobile phone so that he could get a bit more peace.

George said: “I’ve learnt that I love doing social media so much, that I’m either on it or I have to say no. I enjoy it too much. I get my fix! I enjoy using Twitter and Instagram, I find them quite addictive things. But in 2015 and 2016 I just knocked it on the head.

“I don’t think I’m a comeback act, if that makes sense. If I’d done an Adele ‘Hello’ advert in between the X Factor, going, ‘Alright! It’s been a while’, then people would be like, ‘Who is this?’ But this tour has been so nice because we’ve got a fanbase. Not just people en masse, actual fans. Which I’d forgotten about. It’s not something you take home with you, so it’s quite easy to forget.”

George’s new songs have focused on his decision to opt out for a while.

“I’ve really had to work out how I’m delivering what the songs are about, because I don’t want it to come across the wrong way. I’m not saying it’s fine for people to turn their back on the world’s problems. It’s more that I’m writing these songs for myself. I don’t claim to have the answer to anything at all. I just think some of us don’t do ourselves any favours by constantly being involved. It’s just a drip feed of bad news and rumours. You should just turn your phone off, because you don’t know what’s going on. There’s no facts, so wait until the morning instead of piecing things together.”

George has been open about his mental health struggles and hopes that by doing so he removes the stigma that can sometimes be attached. He frequently collects money for the charity Mind at his gigs.

“When I got to a position where, instead of just throwing a few quid in a bucket for charity when one came around, I was able to set up who I gave to monthly, I chose Mind. That was five or six years ago, and I didn’t think much of it. It was more because mental health was the one thing that had affected people that I loved around me.

“I was definitely ill-equipped – and probably still am – with an educated, informed view on what [mental illness] is and how to best help someone who is experiencing it. Off the back of the first record, I started to experience [mental illness] for the first time. I had a very conscious sit-down talk with myself where I was like, “OK, this second record is only going to work if you’re as honest as you can be.” I’m not saying that I lied throughout the first album, but I relied on characters.

“There’s lots of easy ways of flipping a story so it’s not directly you, or not easily read. I did away with all of that on the second record, and was as honest as I could be, which meant talking about anxiety. The more I started to look at it, the more I saw it everywhere. So many stories that we know and love are about that. It felt good writing [the new songs], it felt good singing them down, it feels good singing them live. I was hesitant to mention that [anxiety] was the main theme on the album, because I didn’t want to be a poster boy for mental health.

“I feel in many ways like there’s a lot for me to learn, but it’s something that I am eager to learn about. It’s been amazing working with Mind.”