As I grew older, I actually was prepared to go into fine arts school and do a degree. That was what I was actually settled upon when I was offered a record deal.

When a poem might become a song, then certain parts are repeated and might become a refrain or a chorus, so they change in that way. But it's more the nature of the words and what they're saying that determines whether it's a poem or a song.

I feel like when I'm writing for other people, when I'm doing rap hooks, it's kinda like playing dress up for me...

There's so much you can do with laying words on a bed of music. You can completely change their meaning with the type of music or the way they're sung.

I don't hold onto anything, because it's a waste of energy to do so, really. There's nothing that I can do about the way people want to write about me. I just try and concentrate on my work and do that as well as I can.

The artists that I love- whether painters or filmmakers- it's because something resonates in me because I've felt it.

I like things that are beaten up, that have lived a little. I like things that are real. I like things that are made out of wood or string. I never feel very responsive to plastic machinery.