Crazy as it sounds, I'm a believer in destiny and serendipity, and I have had cosmic experiences all my life. Something told me I was meant for greater stuff. And look, I've had a baby! And I've written an opera!

But I want to deepen as an artist, and working with Shakespeare definitely points in that direction.

Life is the longest death in California.

You know the question: 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall?' Answer: 'Practise?' Well, in my case, I got there by not practising. I didn't finish my music degree. And when I got into the pop world, I decided not to conform because I figured that the point of being an artist was that you shouldn't be like anyone else.

The operas I listen to aren't in English, and I want to listen to my opera after I'm done with it. I want to have the desire to play it on the stereo. To me, the language is part of the mystery.

And you will believe in love And all that it's supposed to be But just until the fish start to smell And you're struck down by a hammer.

Certainly in terms of my life - anybody's life - you go through death, childbirth and marriage, glory and defeat, and so on.