I am a contradictory mess but I see it as my prerogative to change my mood like the weather.
Shirley Manson
I am not a sexy woman, I'm not beautiful, I'm not a sex kitten, I don't flirt with people, yet I've been tagged more of sex symbol than women who truly are and I that's solely because I don't reveal too much: people are curious.
I have a lot of very close girlfriends and sisters - I'm from an all female family. My father often quips that even the cat was neutered!
I just want to live my life a little freely and not adhere to any schedule - just make music and have fun.
Mozart was a punk, which people seem to forget. He was a naughty, naughty boy.
Until we command the exact same salary as every male counterpart, I feel a political desire to stand by other women. If we don't stand together, that equality will never be fully realized, and that bothers me.
A lot of celebrities just want money, fame, power, fancy cars, houses all over the world and have people bow down to them. To me, that's frightful behaviour.
I've got a lot of stamina and I enjoy people, so having lots of people around doesn't freak me out.
I'm afraid of happy people. They're chemically unbalanced.
I think women in pop have been declawed and defanged, and they're just meant to look pretty and sing pretty.
You don't really hear a female perspective on the radio, because so many of the songs are being written by men.
I don't find any kind of tension very productive, I find it destructive, actually.
I like the feeling that I'm giving young women self-confidence. It sounds so cliched, but it can be very moving.
I plan on doing as much in my life as I possibly can.
There's nothing I've done that I feel a lot of regret over because I stuck to my guns, even when it got uncomfortable - and it will get uncomfortable because you're going up against the wall.
I have a temper on me that could hold back tides.
I am laughably aggressive, and the rest of the band is very laid back, so we mix well.
I want to hear from the creature who isn't blessed with unbelievable good looks and incredible genes. I want to hear from the geek girl, the forgotten girl, the invisible girl and the miserable girl.
I'm a loud person; I love noise and aggression. I crave contact.
I've got no timetable. I'm sort of sick of timetables, to be honest.
How you present yourself is nobody's business but your own. The stylists have an opinion. The hair people have an opinion. The fans and the management have opinions. Ultimately, you have to trust that you are the safe-keeper of yourself.
Starbucks is my main fix and it's usually you people working in there - sometimes they're actually shaking. It just makes me feel horrendous because I've been in that situation.
I refuse to step inside the ring and fight like a gladiator against my own. I'm not playing that game. Any woman who has survived a year or more of making music has my undying respect.
No, I like being a role model because I know how much comfort my musical idols brought me.
I feel privileged, to be honest.
I would say I'm pretty well at ease with my sexuality, but I'm an individual before I am a female.
The truth is, I've always been wracked with self-loathing and terrible, paralysing depression.
The sensation of never feeling good enough or pretty enough will always be there. It's a constant dialogue, and you just learn to be more powerful than that other voice. When you hear it come up, you shut it down.
Selling millions of albums is a sign you've infiltrated the culture.
It's really difficult to navigate attention and stardom and celebrity status and still try to maintain yourself and hold onto your intelligence and integrity. It's really challenging.
I was a redhead and a middle child; both can make you feel excluded. It's like fighting to be included, in the swim of things. After a while you start to develop a bit of a victim mentality, which isn't great for a happy life.
It's unhealthy for people to never express any kind of negativity or doubt. To have balance, you need to address that side of your thoughts as well as the positive. Otherwise, you tend toward crazy.
In terms of fitting in, you know, I don't have a lot of armor up. I'm a raw nerve and it's really uncomfortable for a lot of people.
No, I'm not Shirley the girl, I'm the woman on MTV with the big boots.
Possibly because I grew up not feeling very confident about my own physical appearance, I developed internal devices so that I could integrate into society.
I was always embarrassed because my dad wore a suit and my mother wore flat pumps and a cozy jumper while my friends' parents were punks or hippies.
What makes a woman stylish is what she has to say and how she chooses to live her life.
It's everywhere, constant criticism of women's appearance in magazines and online. It's not easy to navigate.
People don't associate red hair, pale skin, and freckles with beauty.
That's a difficult question, because to consider yourself a rebel is sort of ridiculous.
I mean, I tend to do my own thing, and that usually crosses purposes with everyone around me.
It's definitely an intrinsic part of my makeup that makes me want to see black when everyone else is seeing white.
I'm fairly in control and I don't like to flirt particularly. I mean, obviously if I meet someone who I think is hot, of course I'll want to flirt with him, But in general I don't use it in day-to-day life.
At the end of the day, though, the band members have to be strong. It's down to the individuals in the unit. Listen to me, I'm talking like I'm in the army and this is my squadron.
You have to watch all sides of your advancement, you have to make sure people's bodies and minds are healthy and their morale is cool before you can really go out and play great music.
And then there's all these other creeps that surround your band and suck off you like leeches and try to manipulate you and your business. You have to watch like a hawk. I'm always ready to fight. I see it very much as a battle.
If you have any opinions at all or if you're even remotely verbal then they're going to call you fiery.
I think it's a great thing to have failed in life and then pulled yourself up by the boot straps and actually done something, because then you appreciate it more.
I couldn't feel good about myself hanging out in Armani clothes when my girlfriend can't even pay her heating bill. I'd feel foul and I'd be embarrassed.
I know lots of people who've never been lucky enough to get to this stage in their life. And I'm not gonna hide it for anybody.
