With music, you could stick someone with a musical instrument or even not a musical instrument, get them to showcase their talent, and within 30 seconds you could tell whether they were good or not, but with acting you have to give them the right part.

I've been feeling everything. From hate to love. From love to lust. From lust to truth. I guess that's how I know you.

I saw Damien Rice in Dublin when I was 13, and that inspired me to want to pursue being a songwriter... I practised relentlessly and started recording my own EPs. At 16 I moved to London and played any gigs I could, selling CDs from my rucksack to fund recording the next, and it snowballed from there.

The main thing that you have to remember on this journey is, just be nice to everyone and always smile. Always appreciate things, because [they] could be gone tomorrow.

The more you write tunes, the better they will become. The more you do gigs, the better you will become.

I don't think that there's much that sets me apart from other musicians, but I think there are definitely things that set me apart from other kinds of artists.

I would say, you can never do enough gigs and you can never do enough songs. Make sure that every opportunity you can, play a show and every opportunity you can, write a song.