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

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

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

No matter what you do, if there's something you're afraid of, you need to break through it.

I feel like humans are a disease. It's a hard thing to communicate in a pop song. I mean, who wants to hear that?

When you fall in love, you become weak.

I try to create songs that are really massive and intense, but at the same time remaining honest and raw.