Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I'm songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It's so important.

You've got the words to change a nation but you're biting your tongue

It would be sad if we lost our instinct and our courage to love and protect.

I wasn't intentionally trying to create my own path or be original, it was just I needed to say certain things and I needed to express myself, and that's how it came out.

I tried to bang down a lot of doors but Virgin were the only label who believed in what I was doing. I ended up with the label that understood what I was trying to do.

Sometimes you feel like a very small drop in this huge ocean.

I want to speak for people that may not feel like they're being spoken for at the moment. And I want to make a connection between the world around us and the charts.

From when I was a kid I wanted to write. It was so important to me that I was writing my own material.

Any song I have to work on longer than a day, I just leave it. It's not gonna work. Everything that's good is really instant.

I was very quiet until I got at the piano, and weekends, lunch breaks, after school, before school, I was just making music.

I'd be smiling if I wasn't so desperate. I'd be patient if I had the time.

Respect by fear isn't respect... it's fear.

Secrets are a part of life. Their mysteries make our world beautiful. Their depths inspire our hearts, intrigue our minds, and embrace our very souls.

I am going to the USA to catch sight of a wild porcupine and to give some lectures.

I am blessed for what I have, but I believed in it from the beginning. Today, the dream is the same: I still want to travel, I still want to entertain, and I most certainly still want to have fun.

I never talk about my personal life. After these rumours, I definitely do not want to comment on anything.

When I was a teenager, I was really into hair; I dyed it different colours and had loads of haircuts. I shaved my head when I was 17 - it was pretty radical!

I Don't Care About FIFA. This is bullshit.

Show him your soft side too. Being too pretty and smart... Guys don't like when a woman is better than a man.

We as Iraqis have suffered enormously as a result of al-Qaeda and its leader.

What's the basis when rappers don't know the basics? Still not takin' advice from those I wouldn't trade places with.