“We live in a society where everything’s packaged.”

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.

It’s celebrated in British culture to be eccentric.

Sometimes people fear the truth. They’d rather not speak to you than know what you really think.

I love going to the cinema. Whenever I get time off, that’s where I go.

There’s nothing wrong with a thick eyebrow; Frida Kahlo had them.

I’m under no illusion that there are things about me that I’d like to change. I just accept who I am, and I’m proud of it.

All creative people have to have vulnerability because those nuances are what move people. So I’m deeply insecure – but I’m good at hiding it.

I try to stick to a certain diet all the time, and then when I feel like a reward, I have it. I try to stick to no dairy, no sugar, no wheat.

It was bad enough to have toppled from the Olympic heights to make my living competing with animals. But the competition wasn’t even fair. No man could beat a race horse, not even for 100 yards.

Don’t get hung up on the hard times, the challenges. Tell your story by highlighting the victories. Because it’s your victories that will inspire, motivate, encourage other people to live their stories in grander ways.

We all want to be liked, loved, or needed. That is fine. What is not fine is what we are willing to do to make sure we are liked, or loved or needed. When we make the needs and wants of others a priority in our lives, we devalue ourselves.

Many of us spend the first part of our adult lives becoming – stepping into the roles we take on so that they come to define our lives. But I’ve learned that we don’t really grow up until we unbecome.

God has plans, not problems for our lives. The life of a Christian is an education for a higher service. God is training you for something.

The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies. Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don’t expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don’t.

Make jokes. No stress. Love. Live Life. Proceed. Progress.

It is suggested to us a million times a day that our bodies are projects. They aren’t. Our lives are. Our spirituality is. Our relationships are. Our work is.