The only thing contrived is the production - you can over-produce to the point you kill a good idea, you can under-produce so that the song's amazing but you'll have folks at a radio station saying they won't play it, so there's this balance, and it has to be true.

I grew up listening to English music.

Nobody works harder than Lady Gaga. Nobody. She is unbelievable. I don't know how she sleeps, or when or if.

Crowds respond to anthemic choruses.

I'm not interested in corporate magic or fame.

There is maybe a cynicism because of my past as a writer.

I'm terribly forgetful. I've lost laptops, cell-phones.