"In the public eye, girls and women with strong perspectives are hated. If you're a girl with an opinion, people just hate you. There are still people who are afraid of successful women, and that's so lame."

"My brother had written 'Ocean Eyes,' and we recorded it, basing all of the production around contemporary and lyrical dance. I think of most songs that way - if you can't dance to a song, it's not a song."

"I love to watch videos, and I've always liked to film and take pictures. I have an eye for really weird things that nobody thinks about. I used to make little movies about myself and then edit them on iMovie."

"I don't see myself as a pop artist. Like, when you hear 'pop,' you're like, 'Oh, bubblegum, jumpy little girly stuff,' and I feel like, 'Uh-uh. That's not me.'"

"I listen to music all day every day. I can't not listen to music. It's kind of scary how much I listen to music, but it's what I love, and it's all I care about, so I'm good with it."

"I feel like I write so that people can think of it as theirs. If my song is exactly about your life right now, then it is - I don't even want to say that it's mine, because it's yours."

"I go through a lot of depression, and I know other people do, too, but I have an outlet that so many people don't. If you have that inside of you and can't get it out, what do you do?"

"All of the Vines that were acted & setup & had nice cameras, those weren't the good Vines. The good Vines were, like, a random little kid in the middle of a forest, like, yelling."

"If you write in the same way over and over again, like, in the same place with the same techniques and with the same people, you're sort of writing the same song over and over again."

"I'm pretty sure I don't have any songs that are about how much I love someone. They're all either about, like, 'I hate you,' or 'You make me hate me.'"

"I used to write random little stupid things when I was five, but then the first song I really wrote was one called 'Fingers Crossed,' which is on SoundCloud."

"I just really want to get music out and tour and go places I've never been, and just do more videos. I love photography and videography, and so I really want to direct videos when I can."

"Writing a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you're working with; otherwise, you're not gonna come out with something that's really you."

"I'm trying to show everybody that I'm a girl, and I'm five foot four, and you can do anything you want, no matter your gender. It's your world, too!"

"What makes a song last is real content from a mind that is thinking a little bit harder about certain things. A lot of artists don't really think that hard."

"I'm super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I'm critical of other people, too - I try not to be, though."

"Time is kind of an amazing thing because you can do so much with it. I think people underestimate time... I don't want to just sit on my phone for hours."

"People think you have to go through something to write about it, and you absolutely do not. You can write about, like, a shoe. It's a story."

"I hate smiling. It makes me feel weak and powerless and small. I've always been like that; I don't smile in any pictures."

"I don't know how to function without music. When I'm not making it, I'm listening to it. It gives me courage and takes care of my mind."

"I'm not going to say I'm cool, because I don't really feel that. I just don't care at all, and I guess that's what people think is cool."

"If I'm inspired to make a certain kind of song, I'm going to make that kind of song, no matter if it's what they know me as or think I am."

"Getting recognized is insane. It just blows my mind. Like, someone who you don't know at all can just be like, 'Oh my God - are you Billie?'"

"Words are more powerful than some noises. Noises won't last long. Lyrics are so important, and people don't realise that."

"I think everybody deserves an equal amount of appreciation whether how old they are, but I mean, I'm cool with the praise. I'm good."

"I grew up on the Beatles; I love Linkin Park and Green Day. I heard hip-hop for the first time at 11 and realized what I was missing."

"I'm gonna make what I want to make, and other people are gonna like what they're gonna like. It doesn't really matter."

"People have so much going on in their heads. I'm like, If you could write a song, you'd feel so much better!"

"If I'm in a bad mood, or if I'm uncomfortable, it's probably what I'm wearing that's making me feel that way."

"My whole life, I've sung and listened to music, and since the beginning, I've had iTunes and used Apple Music for streaming."

"I feel like I might be a designer or stylist - or a director because I have always been super interested in cameras and editing."

"I don't really get nervous that much, or if I do, only I know. It's all inside me. I am good at hiding everything."

"Pretty much my whole life, I've been a performer and have loved singing and writing songs in my room for my own ears."

"If I make music and people hate it, you know, whatever. I'll die someday, and one day, they will too."

"I think it's really cool when artists have song titles or album names that are a really conversational sentence."

"You can write a song about being in love with someone, but you don't have to be in love with anyone."

"I've always been a singer. I never really decided I was gonna be a singer. It just kind of - I just sung a lot."

"We uploaded 'Ocean Eyes' to SoundCloud, and it started getting a lot of plays pretty much immediately."

"What inspires me about rap is that it's written in an almost poetic way. I just think it's so cool."

"Pirate was going to be my middle name, but then my uncle had a problem with it because pirates are bad."

"I really like hip-hop and rap; that's my main influence. I really wanna be more of a hip-hop artist."

"I used to make little movies when I was younger. I'd make my friends be in them and then edit them."

"It's really fun to put yourself into a character - into shoes you wouldn't normally be in."

"Sometimes it's flattering when people copy you, but sometimes it gets to a breaking point."

"When I do have free time, I spend it with friends, or I spend it at home writing or making something."

"I don't even call them fans. I don't like that. They're literally just a part of my life; they're a part of my family. I don't think of them as on a lower level than me. I don't think I'm anything but equal to all of them. So yeah, they're basically all of my siblings."

"I play piano and ukulele, and I taught myself those things just because I wanted to play them."

"There are alway going to be bad things. But you can write it down and make a song out of it."

"I had a period in my life where I decided that I would never be bored again and that, if I had any free time at all, I would make plans, and I would always be doing things. It actually was great for a year or so, but then I lost all of my friends."

"I have so many designs and video ideas and lyrics in my head, so I always try to be productive."