Tulisa Contostavlos is smack bang in the middle of filming for the new series of The X Factor and the singer has confessed that she is finding the process a lot easier this time round.

The N Dubz star joined the ITV show in 2011 and says now that she has one year under her belt, she feels a ‘lot more relaxed’ about how she fits in and what to expect from the competition.

Speaking to Bliss magazine, the ‘Young’ hitmaker explained:

“There’s actually a lot less pressure this year. I’m a lot more relaxed. I feel like I’ve earned my spot on the panel. Last year I felt that I was being judged as well as judging. I had to prove why I was given the job.”

It seems that it’s not just Tulisa who has found the 2012 run a lot more easy to film, but she claims that Take That star Gary Barlow has also relaxed into his role in recent months and revealed that she and the hunky song writer have found a lot more common ground this year.

She added:

“Me and Gary have relaxed a lot this year. We were always cool, but we’re very different characters and we struggled to find things in common, whereas this year we’ve managed to find that balance so we’re a lot more chilled out together.”

Gary and Tulisa are now in their second year, Louis Walsh is in his ninth but Nicoel Scherzinger is the newbie to the panel. The Pussycat Dolls star has of course guest judged on the ITV talent show before and was a permanent panel member on Simon Cowell’s US version in 2011.

However, Contostavlos says the pressure is getting to the brunette beauty and she is feeling the need to succeed and win the approval of the British public. Her insecurities make Tulisa want to give her a big ‘hug,’ and she explained:

“I can see the pressure that she’s under. I feel for her when I can see her worrying as she’s in the same position as I was, but we’re proper different people. You don’t get much more opposite!”

“Just because she’s so different from me doesn’t mean that I can’t get along with her. Nicole is very sensitive – we’re both Cancerians so we’re both highly sensitive and highly emotional. She wears her emotions on the outside, whereas from the outside I’m hard as hell. I can see me being really supportive of her this year. If she needs anything from me, I’m there for her. I want to hug her when I see her!’”

The X Factor returns this Saturday night on ITV1 and this afternoon, Unreality TV were at the series press launch in central London. We aren’t allowed to give too much away about the lineup just yet but we can promise you one thing….it’s one hell of an opening episode!

Are you excited? Have you missed Tulisa and Co? Leave your comments below….