Pablo Alborán hits out at 'pathetic' rumours of romance with Ricky Martín

Alborán, who has been plagued recently with speculation about his sexual orientation and who is fiercely defensive of his private life, said: “It's sad that just because you upload a photo on Twitter they all have to ask you, 'who's sleeping in your bed?'”

The singer, famous for his slow, romantic ballads, added: “It just shouldn't happen in this century, it's pathetic.”

Málaga-born Pablo made these heartfelt statements to Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día in response to an article in the Mexican celebrity gossip magazine ¡Basta!, which bore the front-page splash: “Ricky Martín has found love.”

Rumours started after Pablo uploaded a photo of the two artists on Twitter with the caption, “Truly special working with you in India, @ricky_martin. Another dream come true. Lots of surprises in the next album, family!”

But Pablo insists that he had decided to take two months off work to travel round Morocco, France, India, and an unnamed African country, a former French colony where he has family.

He had arranged to meet Ricky Martín in India since the Latin American star, who has recently split up from his long-term boyfriend Carlos González, with whom he has twin sons through a surrogate mother, is a huge fan of the country and knows it intimately, meaning he would be 'a great tour guide'.

Pablo's agents had been contacted some time previously about the two artists working on a single, but due to the Costa del Sol singer's punishing schedule, he had not been able to commit to the plan.

Whilst in India, the two men discussed the idea more fully and began to compose the lyrics, and the song has finally been recorded.

Ricky, who has only confirmed rumours in recent years about his attraction to men, has already been linked with Uruguayan actor Federico Díaz despite having only split from Carlos a few months ago – and Pablo has now been named as his latest squeeze, much to the latter's annoyance.

When probed for more details, Pablo said: “You'll have to ask that of the magazine which invented all this. I'll only ever talk about my music and it is sad that a joint project, which was merely artistic and was beautiful because of how it was going to turn out, has been taken so far out of context.

“This situation has left me feeling very uncomfortable, because I don't usually talk about my private life,” Alborán concluded.