Amy Macdonald

“I've always been able to lead quite a normal life. It is a little crazy that I can travel all over Europe and play these massive shows but still come home to a relatively quiet life.”

“I think I must be one of the only people who hasn't done the whole let's-crack-America thing.”

“It's hard for me to always explain my songs, and people always expect a meaning and to know what it's about. Sometimes when I write these songs I'm feeling a particular emotion, so to then come back and explain what I was feeling or put it into words is quite difficult.”

“I prefer playing with a band. It's good to do both, but for me it's quite exciting when I hear my songs completely transformed with the band behind me. You can really get into it more, and so can the audience.”

“When I was 11 I went to New York with my mum, dad and sister. I felt like I was on a movie set the whole time and loved being over there on Independence Day.”

“There are some amazing women's football teams out there and it is good that they are being recognised. I was always terrible at football, so I am a little bit envious of their amazing skills.”

“But I absolutely love New York. Every time I go there, I still get excited. When you come over the bridge and you're coming towards Manhattan, I still get goose bumps every time.”

“When I wrote the first album I had never played live before, and I'd never been on tour. So that was really just me and my guitar.”

“Since I was 18 I was in the record industry doing my own thing, and I had to be that strong person.”

“One of the problems trying to play an instrument outside in the cold is your fingers give up on you and you can't wear gloves, even fingerless.”

“I hate getting my photograph taken; just because I'm a musician doesn't mean I should have to sell my soul and have pictures of myself on stage with a red face and sweaty armpits plastered over 'Heat!' every week. I'm not a model.”

“We have this obsession with celebrity, where people can go on shows and makes millions of pounds from being completely talentless - Jade Goody, all that type of people - and it really gets to me. I'm not interested, I'm a musician. It's not about being famous and being a celeb.”

“If you put lots of auto-tune on your voice on the album, people are going to be disappointed when they come to see you live. The imperfections make it better, more natural.”

“I loved Jake Gyllenhaal. He's the most beautiful thing ever.”

“I didn't have many celebrity crushes, it was mainly Rangers players! I had a thing for Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. Looking back, I really don't know why! Great player though!”

“I have always said that it is completely about the music, and I have never been interested in anything else. I think I've been able to maintain that. I'm a totally normal person, I don't get followed or have photographers waiting outside my door. So yes I have a very ordinary life.”

“A lot of people in the music business are a bit doom and gloom, People say it's probably easier to write sad songs than it is to write happy ones, so that's maybe why. I just wanted to be a bit positive about things rather than always being negative.”

“If you are anxious, if you doubt yourself, if you stress over everything, it ultimately means you really care about what you do.”

“I wanted music to be a career. To base everything on fame to me seemed a dangerous thing - I wanted my foundations to be about improving as a performer and writer. No one could push me into going down that route of being a celebrity singer.”

“My aim is always catchy songs, or songs with meaning and I want to write music people can relate to, about things anyone could go through, just real, honest music... songs that mean something, songs that are inspired by true life events.”