Lily Allen finds it easier to make good music when she's unhappy.

The 29-year-old singer took a break from the industry in 2009 - since when she's married painter and decorator Sam Cooper and had two children, Ethel, two, and 19-month-old Marnie - and admits that a settled family life is not conducive to making her best music.

Speaking on BBC Radio 2, Lily explained: ''I kind of feel like I want to be happy in my mind, but at the same time I want to be unhappy so I can write some good songs!''

While the 'LDN' singer is happy in her life away from the music industry, she concedes that spending extended periods of time away from her young family during tours inspires her to write new material.

She explained: ''I find that when I'm sort of struggling emotionally, words come a little bit easier in the studio. So maybe that's why I've decided to start writing now, because I'm sad when I'm not with my family.''

This comes after Lily recently insisted she has ''no control'' over her music career.

She said: ''The actual industry side is messed up. I've got no control over a lot of it.

''They kind of made decisions for the wrong reasons. You deliver a body of work and then they basically put it into a market research machine and decide which singles will be released.''