"There are so many things to think about when you make an album. Like, who am I trying to impress? Am I going to get respect, critical acclaim? Or am I going to sell lots of records?"

"It's usually a big kind of vent of frustration or anger or sadness that puts me in the right frame of mind to write. It's such a cliche to say that artists write when they're down, but it's true for me. It's a relief to get out what's eating away at my heart or my soul or my head."

"Since I met Starsmith, my producer, I really feel like I'm making music because we write it together and produce it together. I've got a proper involvement in the end product as opposed to just writing a song and finding someone else to produce it."

"I suffer panic attacks which has made me really conscious about my fitness and I have become addicted to jogging. It might sound odd but a lot of good has come out of it. My fans send letters saying they have taken up jogging because I do it."

"A resilient spirit knows that the silence between the notes creates the music."

"Beauty in art is the harmony of spirit, intellect, and craft. Such is the immutable nature of understanding — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Art is the soul's attempt to give enduring form to the formless — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The art of living is discovering that the strength of a community lies in its compassion."