We live in a very scary time. Or should I say we don't live at all.

The only way I've been able to survive the betrayal of lovers, family members, and society is to be able to create as an artist.

The media is something that affects a lot of people, so you're constantly trying to strike a balance between respecting something and not caring about it.

Trying to be a professional dancer, paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked. Daring them to think of me as anything but a form they were trying to capture with their pencils and charcoal. I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going.

I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason. As you know, the Middle East and all the conflicts that occur here and that have been occurring for thousands of years... They have to stop... You can't be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world.

When you're 25, it's a little bit easier to be daring, especially if you are a pop star, because eccentric behavior is expected from you.

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.