Britney Spears news: Producer reveals what pop superstar is REALLY like to work with

Smith is currently riding high after an album he worked extensively on – Stormzy’s Gang Signs and Prayer – scooped Album of the Year at last week’s BRITs.

Several years ago, he worked with Spears on the song Trouble For Me, which was included on her 2011 opus Femme Fatale.

So what was she like to work with?

“That was amazing,” he told the BBC. “We got a call one Wednesday to say Britney was loving a track I’d written six months earlier with an artist in America; and could I come over the next day?

“So me and my engineer went straight home to pack our bags; caught the flight, got off the plane in LA, and straight into a limousine.

“We walked into the studio and the first person we saw was this diminutive blonde girl who said, ‘Hi, I’m Britney. Are we ready to record?’”

The process, he recalled, was an absolute whirlwind.

“I went to get a very strong cup of coffee and we did the session. Then she said, ‘I’ll be back tomorrow morning at 11 to hear it,’ so we worked through the night to make her vocals sound as good as they could be – which was great, because she gave us loads of takes.

“And, as you know, her sound is very much about vocal production, so we used a lot of tricks.”

Thankfully, their work paid off. “I’d heard stories before that if she wasn’t feeling a song, she’d say, ‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ then get in the car and go home. So there was quite a lot of pressure!” Smith recalled.

“When she came in at 11, we both had matchsticks propping open our eyes and I played the song, not knowing how she was going to react. As it got to the chorus I took a very sly glance over my shoulder and she was dancing, which was just an amazing sign.

“When we got to the end and she said, ‘I absolutely love it’. So that was a great experience.”

Spears’ last album Glory was released in 2016, and she is rumoured to be releasing new music in the near future.

She’s also got a tour on her plate, and she’ll be calling off at the UK over the summer for a string of shows.

Her Las Vegas residency Piece of Me wrapped up at the end of last year.