“My favourite authors are Milan Kundera and Jeanette Winterson.”

All the things that I find beautiful have a darkness about them.

You feel a sense of elation seeing yourself on a billboard.

I’m not that materialistic. I like nice clothes and that, but I don’t spend lots of money on stuff. I’m not really into TV, I don’t have an iPod, I’ve got a gramophone.

I like someone with a really good and dark sense of humour.

I think everybody should focus on inner beauty.

I am inspired by show girls and Vegas. I was a cabaret performer, so that’s where all that influence comes from.

I wasn’t really comfortable reading until I was 12.

When I do my shows, it’s really cross-generational. Sometimes there’s three generations there.

I just really want to make albums – and however I can, I will.

I’d say that, first and foremost, I’m a performer; I started performing when I was four years old, and being on stage from a young age set me up.

Curvy is something to be proud of.

It’s tragic that you can define a whole movement in music by gender alone. People are like, ‘Oh, look, another quirky girl.’

I really hate bureaucracy and the idea that I’m not a free person.

I think soul is soul. I don’t see new soul as any different to old soul.

I agree with cosmetic surgery for medical reasons – my mother had breast cancer and I think it’s very sad when somebody has no choice in what happens to their body.

I dread the idea of a paparazzi snapping me while I’m out running.

He is still my favourite author, and he is the one – I still think – who writes most honestly about human existence.

The books, the authors who matter the most are those who speak to me and speak for me all those things about life I most need to hear as the confession of myself

Anthony Heilbut has been a guide and a mentor to me. I know of no one who has the love and depth of knowledge of this extraordinary author.

Trust in your abilities and you’re the author of your own destiny.

The sower of the seed is assuredly the author of the whole harvest of mischief.

I’m dedicated to bringing to life what the author is trying to portray.

The authors I prefer are all very different and are not limited to certain genres or even certain time periods.

An author spoils everything when he wants too much to do good.