Plan B is battling with his record company over his third album ‘The Ballad of Bellmarsh’.

The ‘She Said’ hitmaker warned that for his third album he will give up the polished soul sound which brought him commercial success with ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ and go back to his rap roots, but his record company, Atlantic, are scared that the move will lose him fans.

Plan – real name Ben Drew – told the Daily Star newspaper: “I don’t see the record label’s point of view at all.

“So long as the record is good enough, people will pay attention.

“I’ve had to remind them that nobody was interested when ‘Strickland Banks’ first came out.

“No-one thought it’d be as big a hit as it became, but it did so because it was good enough to get people’s interest.”

‘The Ballad of Bellmarsh’ will continue the story of fictional singer Strickland Banks, but will not be released before Plan’s directorial debut, film ‘Ill Manors’, as he wants to make sure he is completely satisfied with both projects first.

He added: “It’s frustrating that there aren’t enough hours in the day, but I need to get the film done first.

“It became impractical to try to finish ‘Belmarsh’ at the same time. It can’t get finished just to suit Atlantic’s release schedule.

“I’ll finish it when I can do it properly, when it’ll be strong enough that I’m proud of it.”