Ne-Yo thinks Conor Maynard is a better singer than him.

The 'Beautiful Monster' hitmaker heard the British singer performing a cover of his song and was so impressed he wanted to sign him.

Conor told MTV News: ''I did a cover of Ne-Yo's 'Beautiful Monster'. [Ne-Yo] told a story where one of his friends called him [like] 'Yo man, isn't this kid singing 'Beautiful Monster' better than you singing it?' He was a bit like 'Ah, no, I'll check that out.' And he was like 'Oh, damn, this kid does sing better than me.''

However, Conor admitted he was initially afraid The Call he got from Ne-Yo was one of his friends playing a joke on him.

He said: ''I remember when I first got that phone call, it was from someone who claimed to be his manager. And I was like, 'OK, I want to believe this. It's a bit shady.' I just didn't want to get out to America and then, you know, have one of my friends calling from my hometown go 'It was me, got ya!' So I had to make sure.''