Will.i.am still mentoring Tyler James

Tyler James is still being mentored by will.i.am since leaving 'The Voice'.

The 'Single Tear' singer - who was a runner up on the BBC singing contest - has kept in touch with the Black Eyed Peas star and thinks he would have been a "f**king state" without his help and input.

James said: "Everything that I did I played to him, I got his opinion on it, but ultimately he's contributed to my music in the sense that he's contributed to me.

"He's given me so much confidence back, he's taught me to believe in myself again. And he had to do that every week because I was a f***ing state every Saturday night and he would just tell me to calm my f***ing a**e down and, 'you're brilliant, just go and do it, don't think about it'. 'When you think too much Tyler...', that's one thing he'd be like, because he knows I think too much and when I think too much I f*** up. He just told me to get on with it."

Their friendship didn't stop there though, as the 30-year-old singer is still close with Will, adding: "He's a good friend now and the best thing about him is obviously he's my mentor on the show, supporting me on the show, but he still is.

"We've done some gigs together - we did Hackney weekend together and an MTV gig in Malta - and whenever he's here I'll see him. He's in it for the long haul, that's his whole thing."

James also revealed plans to record tracks with the 'This Is Love' singer after he helped with Tyler's new album 'A Place To Go'.

He said: "When I saw him the other week he was talking about my second album. We would've loved to of worked together, like properly work.

"We write a lot of stuff together all the time but it's not on the album. He's already talking about a second album - I'd love to do a lot of it with him, you know? And he's got some wicked ideas that are right up my street."