Aldous Harding

“I'm optimistic but I'm also not stupid.”

“It's funny. I change depending on what I'm around, and who I'm around. I've always been like that.”

“I'm actually quite a shy person and it's becoming clearer to me. Sometimes I would like to disappear, maybe only for an hour.”

“I believe in myself enough to not get hung up on what other people are doing, or what I should be writing, or the nature of how I'm writing. I'm just able.”

“It's been a very strong force for me over the years. I don't know exactly why. For some people, fear can be a very useful thing. They can use it to recognise there's something missing, and heal themselves. But fear can also destroy some people. I think I'm the first type of person. I'm pretty anxious, always thinking 'what if?' about the bad stuff.”

“I made a commitment to myself that I'd stick at this and not let weakness in too quickly, that I'd do the best shows I could and make the best songs I can make.”

“I don't really like to talk about what my songs are about.”

“I write songs for the same reasons most artists write songs -because I have to, whatever that means. Because I want to talk about myself or have demos that need to be sent off. I like doing it. It's my job and I like doing it. For the most part, it's pretty easy for me.”

“I'm definitely not above wanting to be liked. Because, I mean, that feels less... lonely? But to be honest, because it was never my dream, I live quite a pressure-less existence, y'know. And of course, that's not true, but it's partly true.”

“I want to be well enough to enjoy the things I've made.”

“It was definitely a really lovely thing for me, doing 'Jools.'”

“For like four or five months of my life I was too scared to like, move around and reach out for things because I was worried that I'd my hands would run into glass, like I could reach up and if I reached up and knocked on the air it would make a noise. I couldn't look at the sky because I was worried that I see a crack.”

“I know exactly what my songs are about and I try not to tell people, because a friend of mine really loves 'Stop Your Tears' and I made the mistake of telling her what it's about one day. Now she has to distract herself and look elsewhere when I sing the last verse about being at the river with the baby, because she knows too much.”

“I don't need to hide behind anything because I'm more comfortable with myself.”

“Designer' is meant to mean whatever it means.”

“One of my least favourite gigs was a festival. There weren't many people there and they were all talking.”

“If people say to me, 'So, what were you doing in Dubai in that song?' or they spend ages comparing me to some other singer, I just shut down, I guess.”

“I'm not afraid to look stupid and I'm not afraid to look like I'm trying too hard.”

“When I was making my first record, I think I felt slightly trapped by my mind and my genre. I think in one way, that archaic language I was using came from a kind of mild obsession with the devil.”

“I find that comforting and an equally purposeful way to think, that there's lots of ways to flex both your strengths and your weaknesses.”