Musician

I'm going to build an empire. I'm always writing for someone else. I want to be someone who has her fingerprints all over the pop charts.

I like working really fast. The best ideas are the first ones that come into your head - so why bother thinking of any more?

I really just want to change the way women think about themselves.

I like befriending my collaborators because I'd rather make music with people I like than people I pretend to like.

Whenever I'm writing a song, if I have an idea for the music video, that's how I know it's a good song.

When I was younger, I was a rave kid trapped inside a singer/songwriter's body. But I kind of figured my way out because I started making these really terrible beats on this Yamaha keyboard that my parents got me for my 10th birthday.

I've always wanted to write pop music. I never wanted to be cool or make a hipster record.

I'm inspired by artists like Robyn, just because she writes amazing pop songs, and they're not throwaway. When I listen to a Robyn pop song, I don't feel like she's just kind of saying something and not thinking; I feel like it's really emotional.

Some people think of feminine as just being pretty and quiet and sweet, but I also think being feminine is being angry and also being sexy and aggressive and passionate.

When I first started, I wasn't really aware of anything in the industry or aware of who I really was. I just put my music out there and tried to get as many people to hear it as possible. I hadn't really thought about the kind of music I wanted to make.

I just feel like the songs I write lend themselves to this girl-power feeling, and those are the artists that I looked up to when I was younger.

I feel like when people meet me, I'm very much not what they expected I would be. I'm not a diva, and I'm not mean to people or have weird rules.

I always love wearing Vivienne Westwood. Her dresses just seem to fit me perfectly, and she makes dresses for girls with curves - I love that.

To me, 'X Factor' is like Vegas. Fake, twisted, but kind of wonderful. Maybe I'm sick, but I find the whole thing quite funny sometimes.

My one thing is respect. I don't care about anything else. You should respect everyone around you - the people who work for you, peers. Be classy.

I know when I've written a good song when I can imagine the video. If I can't imagine the video straight away, I'm not gonna put it on my album.

My dream collaboration would be with someone like Bjork, Kate Bush, or even Dionne Warwick.

When I got signed, I had just turned 16. I felt like I had to continuously have these confrontations with older men who were doubting my ideas because I was a woman, because I was 16.

I used to worry about being cool. Now I realize that I genuinely don't care.

I had this dream to be a rapper when I was younger.