I personally don't know what nerves are. I don't get scared when I'm going to play music. But I think something, maybe my fears, are buried into my songs. Because I'm singing them.

Now I'm standing in front of a thousand people. They're all looking at me, but they're sitting down. They're surrendered, so I have to keep on proving myself to them and giving them all my passion.

Where you're from shapes you, but you can actually do whatever you want.

I wanted to find people who were like me, and I did, in the people I was reading.

I didn't blend well with my classmates or my teachers.

People want a beautiful story. Hopefully my life story is still beautiful, but that metro stuff doesn't make it much more pitiful.

I was on the train; I did play, but I also played in bars, in the streets, at birthday parties for people who discovered me on the train.

If you live in central London, that's probably fine for you, but in places like Edmonton, where you're almost out of sight of London, you've got to pay more and more to get into central London. How does that work?

Why are there not cabs in Edmonton? Why are there cabs in central London but not here? And if they're going to be here, they should be cheaper. And travelcards, they're expensive.

At home and in church - which I didn't go to a lot, I was very rebellious, but my family was strict Christians - they would ask us, 'What's the shortest verse in the Bible?' and I was the one who always said 'John 11:35' straightaway. It stayed with me: the Bible has stayed with me.

Poetry itself is music. I'm just lucky that I can convert it into music. William Blake is my favorite poet of all time, and he said that he wasn't quite familiar with the sounds of music. If so, he would have been a musician. All of his poems are all like songs, and that's how I always try to start my thoughts.

I know that New York is big - there are huge buildings - but, in fact, it's quite small and contained... I like it when cities are melancholic. When it started snowing, for example, I felt very lonely. I felt very comfortable and very relaxed. When that happens, I write. So I've been writing, not a lot, but I'm inspired every day.

Where I'm staying, near Lafayette Street, Bowery, and Houston, you get different people with different spirits, and that's what I like.

People say my world is dark. No, there's a lot of lightness in my world. But I know very well that I'm not normal when I'm performing.

It's amazing how people believe you if you use long words.

I found it quite pleasing to be alone from a very young age. The piano became my source of release.

Honestly, I still don't know a lot of artists, and I want to keep it that way for a while. I think that's why I might be quite original.

Most people think a song is a song - three minutes, and you're done. I don't think this way. Songs are my wings. They're what I use to fly. It's very important for me to put everything in the right place.

Life is life. You have to learn how to forgive people and how to gain forgiveness for yourself.

I always see my music for its rewards rather than its awards. But I always thought if there was one award I'd want to win, it would be the Mercury.

The greatest in heroes in life are the anonymous. That's what I believe. Your neighbours are heroes. People who, when you walk down the street, you see them feeding their little baby - these people are heroes because they are living under difficult situations, but they're still trying to save a life.

I believe when the music is being sung or being played, at the end of it, there's some sort of grace and understanding. And that's all I want for humanity. I just want us to understand each other. That's the point of my music.

I personally wouldn't want my second album to sound like my first; it might sound very rocky or hard rock - and that wouldn't be melancholy. So if people think my music is melancholic, then so be it. It's meant to be uplifting, and I'm just basically saying what needs to be said.

Because I didn't think anyone would actually listen to my music, I thought I could say whatever I wanted.