I can't eat before I go onstage because I've learnt that burping on stage isn't a good thing. It's all about acid reflux.
I don't know if fame will come.
I don't know if I should say this, but I feel more like a singer than an artist.
I want to look classy and sophisticated. For the "Running" video, I wanted to make a bit of a statement and to be slightly over-the-top. I'm not taking the piss out of myself, but I'm not taking myself too seriously, either. I'm just having fun and trying to pretend I'm a pop star, really.
There are so many great singers out there.
I started meeting the right people, like [producer] Dave [Okumu], who explained to me how songwriting is really simple - "just like shitting," he said. "You gotta let it all out." When he put it like that, however disgusting it is, it made a lot of sense to me.
I went to university and studied English literature, and I forgot about music. I was gonna be a journalist. But then I decided to try and be a backing singer, and my mum was like, "Go for it." If that didn't work, I was gonna go to law school. I was just being boringly sensible; trying to be a singer felt a bit indulgent.
I sung from an early age and I was always given nice parts in school musicals, but I definitely wasn't the golden girl. I didn't have the guts. You've got to have a real confidence in yourself to be like: "I'm gonna be a singer and write songs." I never thought it would go anywhere because it's so unattainable to be a singer.
American fans want to meet you, and they wait for that autograph by the stage door. In the UK, it doesn't really happen that much.
I have moments, like a guy saying to me on the tube, "You know, you look a lot like Jessie Ware."
I feel like I've got far more gay fans in America... Maybe they caught wind that I have a cute Jewish brother who's gay.
I've turned down songs that would be much easier to play on the radio that I don't think should be on the album. Maybe I've shot myself in the foot.
I tried a couple of pop writers - none of the big, big, big ones - but it didn't work for me. I do have a commercial voice; I'm not quirky. I'm very normal and that's probably why I like people like Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston. It's no-nonsense. They sing well, and that's it.
