I have always had strong maternal instincts. Even when I was still a child I cut out pictures of prams from newspapers and imagined the feeling of pushing my own pram through fresh winter snow and seeing the wheels' tracks behind me in the snow.

The press has always written that I am a recluse and a mysterious woman, but I am more down-to-earth than they think.

There is a danger of changing too much in the search for perfection.

I can spot empty flattery and know exactly where I stand. In the end it's really only my own approval or disapproval that means anything.

I may have aimed too high sometimes, asked too much of myself and demanded too little from those around me.

When I record, it feels like I'm in a bubble. There's nothing else in my head right then. It's just that song, and I'm trying to really sound like what the song is about.

When you love someone, and you've lost that one, then nothing really matters.