Beyonce Knowles to take a six-month break from music

The 'Crazy in Love' singer – who is married to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z - thinks she worked too hard last year and needs time off to focus more on her personal life, including spending time with her five-year-old nephew Daniel.

She said: "It's definitely time to take a break, to recharge my batteries. I'd like to take about six months and not go into the studio. I need to just live life, to be inspired by things again.

"I'm going to do random things. I want to go to restaurants, maybe take a class and see some movies and Broadway shows.

"I'll spend more time with Daniel. He's a wonderful kid, amazing, so smart. And I spoil him, so it's a lot of work. He's a 24-hour job."

However, Beyonce, 28, admits she will find her music sabbatical tough.

She said in an interview with the USA Today newspaper: "It will be the hardest thing in the world for me to make myself not do an album and shoot a video and turn it in and say, 'I'm ready!' I already have all these melodies and ideas in my head. I have to tell myself, 'Sit down! Sit down!' "