Being with the president’s daughter, no matter who the president is, you are connected to the most powerful political force on earth, and that’s scary. And when you mix crystal meth and alcohol with that, it’s…kind of exciting. A little too exciting.

To me, songs come of their own volition - and with an open-ended philosophy.

I think my mother, more than anyone, knew the importance of inspiration. If it was occurring, you had to use it.

Opera needs to be a total escape from real life. To relate to what we're going through today is fine and dandy, but it's really about being transported and completely swept away by a romantic notion.

Somebody curse the light And take me far away from myself

My cheeks explode when I smile. Thats why I have to look so nonplussed.

I'm a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelites. Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and I realised recently that my music is Pre-Raphaelite in a certain way, in that it reinvents an older era and romanticises it, puts it in this gilded frame.