Kele Okereke, the 28-year-old frontman of London indie rock act Bloc Party, has spoken out about his recent emotional stress, which he insists saw him suffer a “meltdown” similar to the public breakdown of US pop star Britney Spears back in 2007.

The “The Prayer” singer, who moved to Berlin for several months last year to get inspiration for his upcoming debut solo album, The Boxer (released in late June), was referring to his new haircut in an interview with a British radio DJ. Famous for his short dreadlocks, Okereke recently lopped them off in favour of a new style, comparing the cut to the time Spears’ shaved her head.

 “I was doing a Britney,” Okereke joked. “I’d had enough and I needed to start again… I was having a meltdown. I was attacking photographers with my umbrella and not being so good to myself.”

The notoriously shy singer, who confirmed he was gay in an interview back in March, has teamed up with producers XXXchange and Hudson Mohawke for his new disc, which sees him delve further into dance music.

The first single from the album is “Tenderoni”, while tracklisting for The Boxer is: “Walk Tall”, “On the Lam”, “Tenderoni”, “The Other Side”, “Everything You Wanted”, “New Rules”, “Unholy Thoughts”, “Rise”, “All The Things I Could Never Say”, “Yesterday’s Gone”.