I find male singers and what they sing about fascinating. It makes me realize how little we know about ourselves and how little I know about myself. It’s interesting to see the male perspective.
I could always sing, from a really young age, but my voice was really weird. I used to make my mum turn up the radio every day in our house. She was well into music so I got that from her.
I maintain that when I finally retire from my career in music, I will go and live back in Wales – when I am an old person, if I live to be an old person. The water I miss, and the air, there’s something different about it. And I miss the simple life.
Drake, I’d like to collaborate with. He’s a phenomenal lyricist. Probably the best rapper in the world at the moment. I love Kanye but there’s something about Drake; he’s more straight up, really clever and really poetic and metaphorical – I love that. He’s just clever.
I don’t really have a style icon but I really admire the way people dress like Gaga, Rihanna and Gwen Stefani. It’s good to be inspired by singers who write music and dress incredibly – rather than models and people in the fashion industry who dress immaculately anyway because it’s their style.
After shows my face feels dirty with makeup and sweat, especially in the smaller venues, so it feels good to get back to the bus and smooth it away. Sometimes you need something alcohol-based, especially on tour when you don’t always get a chance to keep washing your face all the time.
I met Prince William at a musical festival and he let me know he was a fan of my music. But the invitation to sing at his wedding reception came completely out of the blue. The fact that Kate and William knew the words to my songs was very touching.
Lauryn Hill is quite political and is very bold and isn’t afraid of wearing her heart on her sleeve, and same with Bjork, except she is a little bit more kind of fragile.
You should constantly write because your writing is always evolving and progressing. It’s really important to start writing young.
I never thought that I could make a living out of my voice, to be completely honest. I thought that I could probably keep playing pubs. And it was exciting for me to get even just a pub gig in my town or country, when I went to university.
I played recorder in assembly, then I became passionate about the guitar, I don’t know why. I started on electric then moved to acoustic – my brother was playing bass in the next room.
The very first song I wrote was about a boy that I was obsessed with.
I wish I could have hung out with Patti Smith in the seventies, and also have some crazy times.
Some people don’t have a way of that catharsis and I do, so I’m lucky in that sense that people listen to my songs and enjoy my songs. It’s a really important thing for me, it’s how I channel everything. I don’t really know what I’d do if I didn’t write songs.
I feel like sometimes I’m so positive and sometimes I think the worst of everything or I think the worst is going to happen. It’s how I deal with stuff day-to-day, it’s just how I get by really, and it’s probably not the best way to be.
I feel like my songs are very relevant and very meaningful, but I literally have to get rid of the nostalgia for shows because I would just be mess on-stage otherwise.
I definitely write about a lot of dreamy, surreal stuff. I do end up going to a surreal world with my music, but I also like the idea of there being really real stuff as well.
It’s usually a big kind of vent of frustration or anger or sadness that puts me in the right frame of mind to write. It’s such a cliche to say that artists write when they’re down, but it’s true for me. It’s a relief to get out what’s eating away at my heart or my soul or my head.
I’ve never wanted to be a star, I never wanted to be a famous person or anything like that, and I think my fans know that as well.
I’m always intrigued by people that listen to my music, I just naturally want to get to know people who listen to my music because people who end up having such an attachment with my stuff, I wonder why they have such a connection to something that’s so personal to me in the first place.