“I’m just trying to figure out exactly what I want to do,” he mused to BBC Newsbeat. “I feel like when I released the first single I was 19 and I almost felt so much younger than right now.”

You literally were younger than you are now, Mayno.

“So I’m trying to work out where is the next place I can go. I feel like I came into the game at a very weird moment where I was right at the end of my young years and now I’m trying to move on from that,” he continued.

“I don’t want to change it and the fans be like ‘what’s going on?’ but I want to make it cool.”

Mind you, there’s probably still one more single to come from ‘Contrast’ so let’s get that out the way first.

Controversially it all takes place at the Alton Towers theme park on July 6, with tickets starting at a pricey-but-reasonable-if-it-includes-rides-and-no-we-don’t-mean-Olly £55.

Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am, so probably best to set an alarm of some kind.

There’s more information on all of it right here.

The Dutch dance duo – ‘aided’ by the Far East Movement’ – knock will.i.am and Britney Spears down to Number 2, while Taylor Swift climbs to Number 3 with ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, manchild Conor Maynard climbs 28 places to Number 6 with ‘Animal’ while poor ignored Emeli Sandé somehow earns another hit single as ‘Clown’ climbs three places to Number 8.

It’s not great news for Amelia Lily whose second single ‘Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)’ enters at Number 11, while Little Mix’s empowerment anthem, ‘Change Your Life’, is new at 36.

On the album chart, the Les Misérables soundtrack thing holds tight at Number One for a second week, while Calvin, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, One Direction and Fun. all climb within the Top 10.

You can see the full charts here and here if you like.

The ‘Glass Girl’ hitmaker chatted about what he wants to do on his second album (quoted here), saying: “I want to work with singer/songwriters. I’m hoping to work with Ed Sheeran or John Mayer.”

NO THANKS, but continue.

“The first album was very much about the big up-tempo numbers and now it’s time to get into something a bit more intimate and acoustic to really show my voice.”

Fear not readers, Conor will stil do a few up-tempo bangers now and then.

“I’m not going to move away completely from the upbeat songs as I love doing them but I’d love to try some new stuff. You’ve got to experiment, don’t you!”

Not sure we agree with you on this one, but there we go.

Having a chat to the Daily Star Playlist (who else?!), Maynard said the following words in the following order to express meaning:

“While we were doing the Christmas Top Of The Pops show, we were saying we’d have to get in the studio together early this year, so I’m very excited about that. It’s very cool.”

But will it really happen though, Conor?

“When we are back in the UK it will happen.”

Alright, alright, just checking!

Having a chat to MTV in America, where the album’s about to ‘drop’, the manchild mused: ”I named this album, my first album, ‘Contrast’ because I think there’s a massive contrast in what people may be expecting from the album.”

“I think that if people are expecting a very young, poppy kind of sound, it really isn’t that. It’s got very kind of urban, mature kind of sound to it.”

If you don’t believe him, he’s got an anecdote ready to support his claims. Hold on to your hats.

“For me, I remember I got to read my first-ever album review [last year], and the magazine said, ‘We were really shocked. We listened to the first two songs and we were like, “Oh, this doesn’t really sound like a young, poppy album that we thought it’d be.”‘ And I was like, ‘I tried to tell you!’”.

Hm.

“I’ve learned that music never goes according to plan,” he mused to your friends and ours on the Daily Star Playlist. “When I started making ‘Contrast’, I was awful because I’d never sung in a studio before.”

How did it make you feel, Conor?

“You could hear I was nervous, and it took some time to get comfortable singing in front of my producers.”

Producers including Pharrell Williams of course. Not sure if he’s mentioned it before.

Asked about what we can expect from his second opus, he added: “When I get into the studio again, I’ll have to see what I’m feeling.”

Exciting times.

Conor seems to have a problem with facing camera when he has his photo taken doesn’t he?

‘Animal’ is out sometime next year, that is, 2013.

That’s it.

1 Ed Sheeran

Here’s a picture Capital FM presenter Rich Clarke tweeted earlier today. You’ll note that Sheero definitely has the look of someone getting his picture taken with famous people on the last day of a two week placement.

2 Owl City

Take a look at this video in which Owl interacts with Carly Rae Jepsen. One of these people is obviously a globe-straddling pop warbler in full control of their persona. The other is just one fluffed line away from being sent out to buy paperclips.

3 Conor Maynard

Conor is a very special inclusion on this list. Not just because in almost every picture on Google Images he is either pointing at or being pointed at by a celebrity, but because as well as looking like he’s in pop on work experience, he also looks like he’s here as a competition winner. We’d say the picture with Niall ‘Just Happy To Be Here’ Horan is the real classic here: despite Conor being taller (which would usually suggest at least some element of dominance) and despite the fact that he’s with Niall Horan, Maynard still looks like he’s the one who’s about to get a bollocking for sending an important letter by post rather than motorcycle courier.

So there you have it. 3X popstars who look like they’re here on work experience.