My first Top of the Pops I didn't want to do. I was terrified. I'd never done television before. Seeing the video afterwards was like watching myself die.

When I started music, I think it was responsible for keeping me sane, because training as a dancer really kept me in good spirits amid all the crazy stuff that happened when I first became popular.

I definitely don't think of myself as being an influence.

I don't know about hiding away, but I really only like to present myself when I'm working on something - it's more my work I like to present to the world rather than myself.

It's so important to me to do the washing, do the Hoovering. I don't ever want to lose contact with that.

Obviously I try to make the best music that I can, but after about two years of making an album, you start to worry: 'Is it going to come out all right? Is it all going to sound churned out?'

I have a little boy, and I wanted to spend a lot of time with him.

My friends sometimes used to ignore me completely, and that would really upset me badly.

My life and my work are very interlocked. That's partly why I like to keep my private life private.

It's not my ambition to be a big star.

I hear odd tracks from my albums every now and again on the radio, or maybe a friend plays me something.

People weren't even aware that I wrote my own songs. The media just promoted me as a female body. It's like I've had to prove that I'm an artist.

I used to enjoy bad television, like really bad quiz programmes or sitcoms.

I had friends but I was spending a great deal of my time alone and for me that was vital because there's an awful lot you learn about yourself when you're alone.

I think that there's always room for humour in music. It's something that always takes itself so seriously, which I think is a bit of a shame.

I work in a very contained environment, usually.

My father was always playing the piano. He played all kinds of music - Gershwin, all kinds of stuff.

There is a figure that is adored, but I'd question very strongly that it's me.

I have this desire in the back of my mind now of making music and film at the same time - putting the two together.

I'll always be tough on myself.

The music industry is in such poor shape; it's in a really bad way, and a lot of people in the industry are very depressed.

Whenever I see the news, it's always the same depressing things.

Clothes are such a strong part of who a human being is.

In your teens, you get the physical puberty, and between 28 and 32, mental puberty. It does make you feel differently.