I've never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I've only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.
There's so much about Dolly Parton that every female artist should look to, whether it's reading her quotes or reading her interviews or going to one of her live shows. She's been such an amazing example to every female songwriter out there.
My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.
I never give advice unless someone asks me for it. One thing I've learned, and possibly the only advice I have to give, is to not be that person giving out unsolicited advice based on your own personal experience.
Some days I totally appreciate everything that's happening to me, and some days I feel everyone's waiting for me to mess up.
I have to practice to be good at guitar. I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.
I am alone a lot, which is good. I need that time to just be alone after a long day, just decompress. So, I go to either my house or the hotel, or my apartment, or whatever - wherever I am, I go home and I watch TV and I sit there, with my cat, and I just watch TV or go online, check my emails.
I have this really high priority on happiness and finding something to be happy about.
I wish all teenagers can filter through songs instead of turning to drugs and alcohol.
I'm not afraid to write my feelings in songs.
I've been singing Shakira songs in front of my bathroom mirror into my hairbrush forever. It's like a daily routine.
Music is changing so quickly, and the landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly, that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment.
My confidence is easy to shake. I am very well aware of all of my flaws. I am aware of all the insecurities that I have.
Vanity can apply to both insecurity and egotism. So I distance myself, because I feel everything.
The cool thing about reading is that when you read a short story or you read something that takes your mind and expands where your thoughts can go, that's powerful.
I cap myself when I shop; I don't like to spend extravagant amounts on clothes. But, I do get lent clothes for events, it's scary to wear something so expensive, but I feel really pampered.
One element of Madonna's career that really takes center stage is how many times she's reinvented herself. It's easier to stay in one look, one comfort zone, one musical style. It's inspiring to see someone whose only predictable quality is being unpredictable.
Music is my shining light, my favorite thing in the world. T get me to stop doing it for one second would be difficult!
A lot of people ask me, 'How did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry?' It's because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they're gonna say no to you, at least they're gonna be polite about it.
I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.
