Some of the most beautiful things that have happened to me in my life have been things that I couldn't explain.

When someone says that I'm angry it's actually a compliment. I have not always been direct with my anger in my relationships, which is part of why I'd write about it in my songs because I had such fear around expressing anger as a woman.

I guess what people forget sometimes is that when I write songs, I write them sometimes in about 20 minutes.

I can be in the worst PMS, Mercury in retrograde, most awful circumstance - and then if my girlfriends and I are giggling about it, everything's okay.

I make up new lyrics to well-known lullabies. Mostly because I don't actually know a lot of the lyrics.

I'm saying what a lot of people would want to say but are too embarrassed.

What influenced me was Tori Amos, who was unapologetic about expressing anger through music, and Sinead O'Connor. Those two in particular were really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote 'Jagged Little Pill.'