I started performing opera when I was 10 years old. I didn't perform as Zola Jesus until I was probably 18.

A lot of times I have the song inside of me and I have to fight to get it out. I'm a very visual person, so I can see the song but I can't hear it. But I think that if your music becomes a war for it to happen, in the end there's a certain kind of aggression in the music. And I think that's a lot more interesting.

And my music is always such a release of what I feel inside, an impulse.

I think I'm making music that's pretty universal.

I don't find much influence in opera. It was such a different part of me.

There can only be one Queen Bey.

I don't know why people think I'm a Goth - that's a misconception.