I love camping, everything about it - tents, the camping stove, sleeping bags. I'm obsessed with technology, be it synthesizers and speakers or tents and Gore-Tex.
A lot of people start by learning other people's songs, but the idea of singing someone else's music didn't excite me. I just wanted to write my own. It was really bad to begin with. It's improved slightly since.
I couldn't be a Taylor Swift. I would really suck at being Taylor Swift.
It's just as important - if not more important - to take the praise with a pinch of salt, just as you do the criticism.
Being part of a crowd and not standing out is way more frightening than being the person that stands out.
I think there's something antagonistic about bedroom pop. We're reappropriating pop and saying you don't have to be an ex-Disney star to make pop music. You can be from Shepherd's Bush and have spent most of your life listening to the Smiths and still make a pop record.
There's something about rhythm and bass sections generally, how the bass and drums interact, that's basically the soul of any song.
On one level, I am a massive joker and can't take anything seriously, but on the other hand, I'm incredibly serious and a deep thinker, so I have that dichotomy within me.
I didn't really want anyone to know that I wanted to write music or make songs because, in a way, I didn't necessarily know if I wanted to do it for a profession. I wanted to do it to express myself.
Is the mainstream becoming more queer? Or is it the opposite? That artists like me are mainstreaming queer music?
I don't care about how many records I sell, but the main thing is people like it.
I take inspiration from so many places. I think, more than anything, it would have to be the music made by others that I've then fallen in love with, whether it's Madonna, Blood Orange, Fleetwood Mac, or Pink Floyd!
It's really weird when you realize the people you look up to - who have influenced or inspired you - start to realize what you do.
I'm massively inspired by 'True Blue'-era Madonna, but she is absolutely confident and in control of the situation.
I love PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Pixies, Portishead, and Massive Attack: a lot of what I would describe as alternative and indie music.
People like Prince or Madonna, they're kind of superhuman. You can't imagine them burning their toast, and there's something really exciting about that.
When you have a lot of gay friends, you don't think of that as being different or divisive or weird; that's just your reality.
Pop should be weird, and I realize as I say this that I'm not the weirdest person in the world. But if that means a girl sounding like Kylie Minogue and looking like Kurt Cobain, then so be it.
I've tried writing darker, more serious songs, but they don't go anywhere. Everything revolves around the chorus for me.
I'd love to sing with so many people, but my biggest dream would be to sing on a record with The National.
