Bailey Rae Ready To Write For Second Album  

Corinne Bailey Rae is enjoying her time on the road with John Legend these days, but the British singer says she's looking forward to getting back home and starting work on the follow-up to her self-titled platinum 2006 Capitol debut album.

"When I get back from this tour I'm going to have quite a big break," Rae tells Billboard.com, "and over that time I guess I'll start writing and starting to get my head in that mode again, going from performing all the time and doing lots of promotion to actually being more creative again. I'm really looking forward to writing more. I can't wait for that -- for the next phase of things."

Nevertheless, Rae is enjoying opening for Legend, an early supporter whose audience has given her "a really good response, standing ovations and everything. It's a good match; I think his audience really appreciates what we do. They're quite open-minded. They like things that aren't in a box or limited to one style."

Rae will tour with Legend through May 4. She then heads to New Orleans for a May 5 show at Tipitina's Uptown and will play the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis the following day. Afterward, there are two months off on the schedule before she plays the Live Earth show on July 7 at London's Wembley Stadium. With only appearances at the V Festival in August on her docket after that, Rae will presumably have plenty of time to work on her sophomore album.

She's currently working a third single, "I'd Like To," from "Corinne Bailey Rae." And she can be heard on "If I Don't," the new single from Detroit soul/electronic artist Amp Fiddler.

"That was really fun," Rae says. "It was a good match. It seemed like we fit together, though we actually recorded it separately. He was in London, and I actually did my part in Paris. I haven't seen the video yet; we're kind of animated characters, which sounds really cool."