I guess I'm just quite observant and I pay attention to a lot of things. Human behavior really fascinates me.
Ellie Goulding
I'm obsessed with the countryside: woods, forests, fields, lakes, mountains. I'm really into folk music and folklore. But more so I'm into electronic music. I'm into bands that have both aspects, like Boards of Canada is a perfect example. You could listen to that type of music running through a woods. It's kind of what I wanted to achieve.
I was the first person to go to university from my family.
My fancy dress costume of choice is... something 1920s or 30s, when there was still so much elegance and attention to detail. An excuse for ultimate dressing-up indulgence.
I'm a bit grungy - I love wearing boots. But I also love putting on a beautiful white dress and jewels. I have those two alter-egos.
'I Know You Care' is really personal and fragile for me. For me, it's about losing a family member and also about a breakup. It's about this idea of losing someone for good.
I suffer panic attacks which has made me really conscious about my fitness and I have become addicted to jogging. It might sound odd but a lot of good has come out of it. My fans send letters saying they have taken up jogging because I do it.
I was quite a weird kid because I didn't like getting presents. I don't know why. I just went for books all the time.
I instinctively dress a bit tougher because I've spent a lot of time in the U.S. and I realised there was a certain image projected of me here. I've always been an absolute rebel. When I was in my teen years I had piercings and wore all black.
What people don't understand is that how you are as an artist depends on how you are emotionally.
I want to be more like Pixie Lott. She works really hard but always manages to keep smiling. She never complains.
I used to be obsessed with Pearl Jam, but I love having pink hair and kind of looking like a Barbie.
Maybe one day I'll make a record that's really mysterious and no one knows where it came from or what I wrote it about. But thus far, I've just wanted to explain everything properly.
It took time to really build myself a reputation as a good live performer, a musician and an artist.
Ever since I've been young I've been fascinated by the human body. I've written songs about it, but you can become quite morbid if you think about it too much - paranoid and a hypochondriac.
I love prints of skulls and bones and have some taxidermy - a crow and a rabbit - to remind me of home. I like art and have a big portrait of Bjork.
One of the most powerful feelings in the world is after a really, really long run.
I played recorder in assembly, then I became passionate about the guitar, I don't know why. I started on electric then moved to acoustic - my brother was playing bass in the next room.
My hairdresser in the U.K., Adam Reed, has his own line, Percy and Reed, and it's really good. And I use Moroccan Oil and Kerastase as well.
I've always been fascinated by the human body, but you can become quite morbid and paranoid if you think too much.
I started getting these attacks in 2009, just as my music career was taking off. I'd be doing photo-shoots and started to feel like I was having heart attacks. Increasingly I found it difficult to step outside my flat. Things started to get better after I saw a therapist, who told me I needed to make peace with my panic attacks.
My mum was too busy raising four of us to encourage my hopes. But I'm glad I had the upbringing I did. It made me a worrier and a thoughtful, curious person.
When I sing along with Britney Spears I will sing in an American accent. But eventually I found my own voice. My songs are so brutally honest, it would be alien to sing in any accent other than my own. Don't get me wrong - I can imitate singers. I can do bar mitzvahs and weddings.
Because I've always been a runner I love to feel that my body is shining on the inside. I wear baggy clothes, so it's not as though I like showing it off. I just like to know I'm great on the inside.
The only really safe thing to do is to write a diary of where you've been, what time you went to bed, what you ate. If I wrote honestly about everything I think it'd be a disaster. It would cause a lot of trouble.
I've got a song called 'Salt Skin' because when you run in the heat it evaporates and you've got salt crystals on your face. I love that, because it means you've worked really hard.
I'm quite private. And I never wanted to be the biggest star in the world, really. So in that sense I've got a good balance of doing great shows, of making an appearance every now and then and writing music, and I don't really have to do much else.
I start really missing London when I go away. I have a little flat, but very central. I live above a pub and you'd think it'd be a nightmare, but I like hearing the music and it's quite comforting.
I keep getting compared to Marina and the Diamonds because she's kind of in the same place as me at the moment. It's quite annoying being compared, actually, because it almost downgrades your work and makes you feel like you're just another female artist.
Christmas in L.A. is weird. There's no snow. It's not even cold.
There are so many things to think about when you make an album. Like, who am I trying to impress? Am I going to get respect, critical acclaim? Or am I going to sell lots of records?
It's so important to take vitamins. People always get ill on tour because of the close proximity in the bus with everyone.
I record stuff all the time, like little vocal things. I write random things down... Sometimes I just get things stuck in my head and I record them, and that actually becomes a song quite a lot of the time.
I think hype is a good thing. You need it and it'll teach you valuable things and you'll grow stronger, which is what I've done.
It's usually a big kind of vent of frustration or anger or sadness that puts me in the right frame of mind to write. It's such a cliche to say that artists write when they're down, but it's true for me. It's a relief to get out what's eating away at my heart or my soul or my head.
Two things I'm obsessed with are the countryside and fields and being in the open space and body parts, so you'll hear me mentioning body parts and human anatomy. I've listened to my songs and I think I am quite visual and I talk about bones and flesh a lot.
I still love the skinny jeans thing and I wear my favorite leather jacket constantly. I like being kind of a rock star. I love that I can feel comfortable in a small dress or I can feel comfortable wearing a baggy T-shirt.
I want to be safe in the knowledge that I can tour and play festivals for a long time. The main thing is that I want a good reputation as a live performer. If I have that, I'd be so happy.
I never thought I'd say the sentence 'It was a real honour' - because that implies that you've done something pretty special. But now I've done that several times. Yesterday I was in Buckingham Palace - I actually met the Queen yesterday and that was an honour. I never thought I'd do something like that.
I've always said that Adele has turned so many people on to British singers - whether female singers or just like music from this country in general.
There are plenty of bands who never get in the charts and it doesn't mean that they're not any good. Actually, a lot of the top ten is filled with stuff that just sounds the same. I could guess what's in there now - probably a bit of GaGa, Beyonce and some U.S. R&B males.
I can fall in love in a simple way, but I can dissect it in such an intense fashion when it ends.
I feel like I write songs for the future or something. Not in an arrogant way, but I feel like maybe my songs were, like, before their time or something.
After shows my face feels dirty with makeup and sweat, especially in the smaller venues, so it feels good to get back to the bus and smooth it away. Sometimes you need something alcohol-based, especially on tour when you don't always get a chance to keep washing your face all the time.
Gwen Stefani has amazing style. I used to really love Courtney Love, and anything she wore I loved. Or Chloe Sevigny, because I really love that sort of classic look, and I like being girly and flowery, and wearing little D&G dresses. I wear hats a lot, too. I think it goes back to when I was a bit grungy and was a skater girl for a bit.
I've learned not to let it be the end of the world if a boy doesn't like you. I used to put so much effort into boys. I started playing guitar because I wanted to impress this boy. Then, I ended up in love with guitar and I didn't care about the boy anymore.
I don't really have a style icon but I really admire the way people dress like Gaga, Rihanna and Gwen Stefani. It's good to be inspired by singers who write music and dress incredibly - rather than models and people in the fashion industry who dress immaculately anyway because it's their style.
I couldn't really relate much to my younger sister, because she was born in 1992, and I was born in 1986. And then my older sister, we just didn't get on that much. Although we bonded over hating our stepdad.
My favourite people to follow on Twitter are... my fans. They make me laugh so much and keep me smiling.
I've watched and learnt from DJs and remixers and paid way more attention to how I want my voice to sound. Before, as long as it was loud and in tune it was fine. I've discovered the difference made by various microphones and effects, so each track has a different vocal sound, my voice is woven into everything and it's above everything.
