It's not that I don't like American pop; I'm a huge admirer of it, but I think my roots came from a very English and Irish base. Is it all sort of totally non-American sounding, do you think?
I was writing from the age of 10, and I was never really into going to discos and dances and stuff. I never told anyone at school that I did that because I feared it would alienate me even more.
I have to say I find it totally astounding that my albums do as well as they do. It's quite extraordinary, and it's actually very touching for me for the albums to be received with such warmth.
The music industry is in such poor shape; it's in a really bad way, and a lot of people in the industry are very depressed.
It's not my ambition to be a big star.
There's always ideas buzzing around, but it's whether they actually end up materialising into a song.
I suppose the worst case scenario is that people will get to the point where they can't actually afford to make what they want to make creatively. The industry is collapsing.
Albums are like diaries. You go through phases, technically and emotionally, and they reflect the state that you're in at the time.
I've read a couple of things that I was sort of close to having a nervous breakdown. But I don't think I was. I was very, very tired. It was a really difficult time.
I think it's almost a law of nature that there are only certain things that hit an emotive space, and that's what was always special for me about music: it made me feel something.
If I could make albums quicker, I'd be on a roll wouldn't I? Everything just seems to take so much time. I don't know why. Time... evaporates.
I think snow is so evocative and has such a powerful atmosphere.
I didn't really feel that there were any filler tracks on 'The Red Shoes,' but if I were to do that album now, I wouldn't make it so long.
I'm a very strong person, and I think that's why, actually, I find it really infuriating when I read, 'She had a nervous breakdown' or 'She's not very mentally stable, just a weak, frail little creature.'
Sometimes when I'm going to the supermarket to get the coffee and cat litter, I get freaked out and see all these people staring, and you turn around and there's, like, 40 people all looking at you... and when you go around the corner, they're all following you! You start freaking out like a trapped animal.
I had an incredibly full life with my imagination: I used to have all sorts of trolls and things; I had a wonderful world around my toys and invented people. I don't mean I had imaginary friends; I just had this big imagination thing going on. I didn't need any imaginary friends, because I had so much other stuff going on.
I think we all feel geeky at times, don't we? Isn't that all a part of the wonderful tapestry of life?
My father was always playing the piano. He played all kinds of music - Gershwin, all kinds of stuff.
For me, having a child is a really great responsibility because you've got something there that is depending on you for information and love until a certain age when it goes to school.
I wasn't an easy, happy-go-lucky girl because I used to think about everything so much, and I think I probably still do.
