In a way song writing can almost be detrimental, because suddenly you find an outlet that is a kind of cheating. You don't need to have direct communication. You can say, 'I can't describe it to you, but I will record it and send it to you.'

My dad was in the Army. The Army's not great pay, but, you know, we moved from Army patch to Army patch wherever that was. The Army also contributed to sending me off to boarding school.

The showbiz world has to be manipulated to make it more interesting because most people's lives are boring.

I have friends who were friends of mine before I did music and they are my friends now, and we share life experiences. It's no fun unless you're sharing with people, looking out for them as they are looking out for you.

I don't know how to write without thinking what people would want. You don't know whether they want you to be black or white, so you kind of get a gray, something in the middle.

I'm pretty sure Adele and James Blunt were dumped by the same man.

It's taken a long time but eventually when I had the songs in place and demos right and I found myself a manager, that's when everything started happening quickly but I think that's always the way it is.