I did go through this period where girls would be mean and I had a lot of guy friends. But I've found as an adult the importance of having female and male friends.

I'm always interested in hearing how other people read and react to my songs. I hadn't thought of it in just that way. One of the things I love about doing things that are creative is that I feel like it's my right as an artist not to be affected by the reactions of those people that are going to hear my songs. But I also feel like it's the right of the people hearing them to have their own interpretations of what these songs mean. Sometimes people will see things that I don't see.

I'm a person who gets better with practice. Getting older is awesome - because you get more practice.

If I were to work with my mom, I probably would not want her to play my mom. That would get too real.

That people equate being girlie with being nonthreatening … I mean, I can't think of a more blatant example of playing into exactly the thing that we're trying to fight against. I can't be girlie? I think the fact that people are associating being girlie with weakness, that needs to be examined. I don't think that it undermines my power at all.

I did go through this period where girls would be mean and I had a lot of guy friends. But I've found as an adult the importance of having female and male friends.

I brake for birds. I rock a lot of polka dots. I have touched glitter in the last 24 hours. I spend my entire day talking to children. And I find it fundamentally strange that you're not a dessert person. It freaks me out. I'm sorry that I don't talk like Murphy Brown. And I hate your pants suit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something just to make it slightly cuter but that doesn't mean I'm not smart and tough and strong.