I thought to be feminine was to give in to straight culture, or the beauty standard, but in my heart I had a flair for fashion and style. They were passions I kept secret because I didn't understand I could love clothes and hair and makeup and still like girls.

When I moved out of my mom's house at 18 I was almost as sad to leave her sewing machine behind as anything else.

This is how I feel about everything that's out of your control: once you make a record, it's not yours anymore. There's nothing you can do. It's the way I feel about political movements - both of those things grow on their own.

In moments when I question if I should be having kids, I think of all those phone calls from my sister-in-law, in which, 3,000 miles away, I hear my nephews screaming for her attention. I tell her I have to go because I am packing to leave for Europe, and her tone flatlines: "That must be nice."

I work really well under pressure but I really hate doing things on a timeframe.

I can take care of a house, and some people I meet, I think, 'You don't even know how to make a bed.

All this fashion stuff - who's cool now - is just a bigger version of the cool kids versus the nerds.