The fact that I can ever be open about my being gay is amazing! It's great that I don't have to hide it, but also it would be really nice if, in twenty years, it's not even a thing.

Pop music often deals with subject matter like breakups, or you have songs that are like, "I will love you forever," or "you're so hot right now," or "I really feel you," or "We should be together." There aren't that many songs that are like, "I just walked into the room and now I have nothing to say because I feel so awkward because I fancy you so much." There's not as many songs that deal with that awkward bit about love; about how you can really have such a huge crush on someone that actually is completely disabling.

People think I'm cool - it's a virtue of my job! In real life I'm absolutely not cool, but I think if you have the courage of your convictions, and you're confident in yourself, people will maybe think that you are even if you're really a massive dork. Everyone has a different job where, to someone else, your job is really fancy!

It's different obviously with a song when you're talking about narrative, you're talking about the verse leading into the chorus or whatever it is, but you have to have a sensibility of how something would flow either way.

The past isn't real because it's history, and the future isn't because it hasn't happened yet. I like it, it hints at virtual reality, which I think is how we sort of feel about life sometimes.

To a lot of people, my job is really fancy, so they're like, "Oh, whoah, you're a musician, wow!" Some people go to you, "Oh my god, you're a journalist!" And some people go, "What, you're a therapist? That's incredible!" So everyone, to a certain extent, has other people that you get impressed by, without even having a proper conversation or getting to know them. You're just like, "Oohhh, they're a bit fancy!"

One of the amazing things about pop is that it's there to make people feel confident and empowered.