Anne-Marie’s love for karate has helped her achieve stardom.
The ‘Perfect To Me’ hitmaker thinks her love for the sport helped her "focus" on her goals in the music industry and helped her to get back up after every knock back.
She said: "Without karate, I don’t think I’d be able to do this. It really helped with focus and being able to keep going at something, even when you get beaten. Obviously, ‘beaten’ has a completely different meaning in karate! But, either way, you have to get up and carry on going and I wouldn’t have had that attitude if I didn’t do karate. It’s helped so much."
And the 27-year-old singer admits she was nervous about not following the more traditional route into music and releasing an album first.
She added to Music Week: "I was actually getting a bit worried. I was like, ‘Oh my God, are albums even going to be a thing by the time I get to the point where I’m ready to release mine?’ I was nervous, because all I’ve ever thought of in my career from the start is releasing an album. When I grew up, all I listened to was albums, Alanis Morissette, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson … They were such a prize to me, because it was what my Dad gave me or it was a birthday present. They weren’t just things I could listen to or get whenever I wanted. They were important. And also, being able to show off other songs that aren’t necessarily radio-worthy or the right tempo or something, but are very special and personal, is important to me."