‘This world says I’m overweight’

A HIGHLY touted new talent to hit the music scene is not as assured as she may appear on stage.

Ella Eyre, 21, is the fierce new successor to Beyoncé as the Emporio Armani Diamonds fragrance poster girl and her hotly-awaited debut album Feline is released on August 28.

Yet Ella told The Sun that she has battled with low self-esteem and body issues and those insecurities still occasionally surface.

“I’ve grown up in a world where I’ve felt for years that I was overweight,” Ella said.

'I’ve grown up in a world where I’ve felt for years that I was overweight,' says singer Ella Eyre. Picture: Alex B. Huckle / Getty Images Source: Getty Images

'I get upset when I see what people’s idea of ‘fat’ is, says singer Ella Eyre. Picture: Ben A. Pruchnie / Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

“I’m not overweight by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve looked in the mirror and what I’ve seen is very different from the reality.

“I’m not shaming really skinny girls at all, but I think there are a lot of the wrong people being given the time of day and held up as having the perfect body.

“For years I’d look at models and want that figure and say to myself: ‘I’m going to get that body.’ I know now I can never look like them because I don’t have that shape.”

Ella, who shot to fame as the voice of Rudimental’s 2013 hit single Waiting All Night, said she surrounds herself with positive people who love and encourage her but still has days of insecurity.

“It makes me sad to think there are so many of us who aren’t happy, when we’re absolutely fine just the way we are.

“I get upset when I see what people’s idea of ‘fat’ is. Girls aren’t taught well enough that it’s not about weight.

“People are just different sizes — I hate this idea that everyone should be a certain shape.”

Ella, who has also put her vocals to good use with Bastille, Naughty Boy and rappers Wiz Khalifa and Tinie Tempah, being a young woman in today’s society is fraught with difficulty.

“It’s a lot harder to instil self-acceptance and learn to love yourself these days when there is so much in the media that you can’t ignore,” she told The Sun.