Banks

“I have freckles; I don't like covering up too much. I like things dewy and natural, and I think that having moisture in your skin is really beautiful and youthful - sometimes that's more important than coverage.”

“Growing up, I listened to a lot of everything - I fell in love with music, when I discovered people like Lauryn Hill and Tracy Chapman, people whose voices I could really feel, people with a lot of soul. That's what I'm drawn to as a musician: Anybody that has their own voice and their own point of view.”

“When I'm in show mode, I can't even think about putting on makeup; I just have to be centered.”

“It's so inspiring to be around other people who have ideas you haven't thought of, and all of a sudden you're like, 'Wow! That's so amazing!' I definitely want everything I do to just get better and better.”

“Nothing I do is thought out or planned or premeditated. It's just that I'm breathing and living! You just have to breathe and live.”

“When I do things that don't feel pure or make any moves that I don't feel like represent me or who I am, it makes me feel like I wanna throw up. So I just do me, and I guess people just take that how they do.”

“I make really good pasta sauce. The secret to getting it right is just patience and love.”

“It's a big thing in my music to highlight being human - being emotional and powerful, like a goddess.”

“The most personal thing about me is my music. The most honest, pure thing in my whole life.”

“James Blake, Jai Paul, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Sohn, Kwabs, Sampha, Lil Silva, and Brandy, always. They all have soul. Deep soul.”

“I love grey. My mom told me that when I was younger, I would get mildly depressed when it was grey all the time. I'd be darker when it was dark out. But as an adult, I really love it.”

“I grew up in L.A. I actually grew up in the Valley, which was a pretty amazing place to grow up because everybody has nice, big backyards, and I was kind of a little nature being.”

“L.A. is a really good home base. I've grown up here, and so sometimes I have wanderlust even though I tour. You think it would be cured by touring, but sometimes I feel like I want to be somewhere else.”

“I get so many questions in interviews about feminism, and I think the second you start separating femininity and masculinity and giving one more power than the other, that's like - everyone is a person.”

“I love fashion. I like dressing how I feel, and my music shows how I feel - they go hand in hand. My performance style is pretty much the same as my everyday style.”

“I'm very moody, so I dress for whatever mood I'm in. Sometimes I want to be a little more boyish and flowy and comfortable. Sometimes I want to feel a little sexier and more composed.”

“It's funny because everyone says, 'Oh you're reclusive; you don't do social media,' but it's not about being reclusive. I like direct contact, and I like contact that's purposeful.”

“It's that beautiful thing to love your weaknesses, your insecurities, and then put them all on blast. That's why I started writing, and that's why it was so hard to do it in public.”

“A lot of times, people are ashamed of feeling weak and being rejected - so it's liberating to be able to sing about those things. And it's amazing when other people don't feel alone because they hear it.”

“When I'm writing, it's the weirdest thing: it's not even a conscious process. I'm not even thinking when I write, and then all of a sudden, I'll have a song that makes me feel so much better than I did before.”