My winning is getting to perform. That's my victory.

I'm very friendly or whatever, but I would hardly say that I'm that cookie-cutter. I don't live in L.A. or New York. I live in Texas, and I go to hole-in-the-wall bars, so there's no paparazzi there.

I sing songs that I have lived or I write them because I have lived them. I think the believability factor is key.

I was a poor kid, and my mom was a single mother of three.

I try not to date musicians. It's all I've dated. Every guy I've dated is a musician. Obviously, it's not working.

Books have always been important to me - my mom was a first grade teacher, so I grew up reading all the time.

I know a lot of artists say, `If you want your song on my record, I get 50 per cent' I'd like to kick them in the face.