Quotes

Happiness is like a cloud, if you stare at it long enough, it evaporates.

I've learned to trust myself, to listen to truth, to not be afraid of it and to not try and hide it.

We're constantly being told what other people think we are, and that's why it is so important to know yourself.

I don't worry about much anymore. The good thing about worry is that it's like pain. When it's not there, you don't remember what it feels like.

Time is a beautiful thing. It's like when you meet an old lover on the street six years later and they don't look so ugly anymore.

My guideline for success -- and this is really, truthfully honest -- is whether I am really proud of this record [Afterglow]. If I am proud of the record, which I am, then I let it go. If other people like it, then that's a big old bonus for me.

I was a pretty insecure kid, didn't have a lot of friends, and was picked on a lot, and music gave me confidence.

I think sometimes all you need is to hear someone else say the same thing that you're going through to realize that you're not alone. I try to put some sense of hope into the songs, into whatever the situation is so that it's not just dirt, drudgery and a life of misery. You've got to try to find a flip-side to everything, the good side.

[on having her songs choreographed in 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy'] I was a ballet virgin. I think we maybe saw 'The Nutcracker' once. And I can't even begin to dance. I'm two left feet!

[on performing live] Being prepared is important. I warm up for about an hour-and-a-half. And because this is my skill, it's something I've been doing for many, many years. I've put like 10,000 hours in, and I can sing very well. But for me, it's about creating joy.

There's something incredibly glorious about performing with a symphony. And it's not just from an egotistical point of view. It is like you get to be in your own cinematic experience. Like, it just feels like, "Oh, I'm in my own movie."

I sort of view writing as a big part of my personal therapy. Like, it's usually because I feel a need to sort through something that I have confusion around in my life - whether it's loss or pain or discomfort or just trying to come to terms with things that I have a hard time coming to terms with. It's always been my way of processing that.