Charli XCX has opened up about starting therapy during the coronavirus pandemic, saying that it has “been really helpful” for her.

• READ MORE: Alone Together review: quarantine creativity in Charli XCX’s lockdown diary

The pop star is currently preparing to release her new single ‘Good Ones’ on September 2, but made the most of her unexpected downtime during the last 18 months to speak to a professional therapist.

“I started therapy at the beginning of the pandemic,” she told Refinery29. “And that was sort of timely and very fortunate that I was able to do that; it’s been really helpful.”

XCX added that she had decided to take the lessons she was learning from therapy “into life when the world goes back to however it’s going to return to”.

“But I already feel it slipping away from me,” she said.

“I know a lot of my friends feel the same, like, I made these grand plans, how I was going to change my behaviour and live my life differently. And I’m trying, but it seems like that won’t last.”

The singer recently appeared to tease the release date for her fifth studio album, which is untitled at present. Last week (August 17), she posted an image of a headstone on her Instagram page, which showed the date March 18, 2022.

According to XCX, the new album will be “very contrasting” from ‘how I’m feeling now’, the record that she made in lockdown in 2020. “I’m just very into making ultimate pop music,” she explained.

“I’m exploring what it means to be a pop star on a major label in a not very current way. And that’s really fun to me. There are a couple of songs that have stayed as a part of this new project. And to be honest, the meaning of them hasn’t changed. I mean, they were all kind of about sex. And that’s still been quite constant for me throughout the pandemic.”

For help and advice on mental health:

• ‘Am I depressed?‘ – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably for young men
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day