Louis Tomlinson has gushed that he is "deeply in love" with Zara McDermott.

The former One Direction star's new album was inspired by his documentary presenter girlfriend, Zara McDermott, he told podcast host Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO.

"I'm a deeply, deeply romantic person," Louis, 33, revealed, adding he found it difficult to write lyrics unless they truly reflected what was happening in his life at the time.

"It's also easy to be romantic when you are a creative... I really struggle to write in a fictional sense, I really struggle. For me, I have to have been living it, it has to be real to me."

The singer went on to say his new album, How Did I Get Here?, was an expression of his happiness at being in a relationship with Zara, 28.

"If I wasn't feeling so good, like right now, I wasn't feeling so in love," he said, "the record probably would have a slightly different feel to it."

Reflecting on some of his earlier work, Louis suggested it had been "painful", not uplifting.

"One thing I was thinking about with this record, my intention is just to maybe feel good," he shared. "I know that's a really cliché and obvious thing to say, but I'm not sure some of my other music did that. It made you feel, it was honest, it was painful at times, but it didn't feel good."