Corinne Bailey Rae

“Every time you go on stage, you want to prove yourself because you are in front of a new audience.”

“Everything I do I just want to be real and honest.”

“Playing gigs is what it's about for me.”

“I like to be on my own before I do a gig.”

“Language and poetry are endlessly fascinating. The most brilliant work can be so sparse yet so full of meaning. That's what I'm looking for in a song: imagery to describe things in ways that are perfectly concise. I'm constantly trying to find one hard, crystal thing.”

“It's kind of a journalistic thing to say, 'This person is the next so and so.' I think actual musicians are never really into those kinds of comparisons.”

“I think a lot of style is about attitude - posture, deportment, gaze and confidence. I saw that in my mum. She was a cleaner when we were growing up, but she had this stylish presence I admired.”

“Because of my background, I never felt comfortable with these R&B divas, but I'd hate to be just some pensive girl with a guitar.”

“I really like melodies that have a certain tension against the chords. I like writing things that are sort of insistent.”

“I love to watch films, going out and watching bands, going out dancing.”

“Even right in the middle of the worst times, I remember thinking that I would choose this exact life again, that I would do it all again.”

“I was emotionally scarred we could not get it away”

“Reggae is not music I know inside-out.”

“I find so much freedom in singing and so much expression of my self. I feel so connected to the people in the audience, and I feel spiritually connected when I'm doing it.”

“I believe that energy can't be destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. There's more to life than we can conceive of.”

“I saw tons of young black girls who really got the message of 'Put Your Records On,' which is specifically a message for black girls about self-love and embracing your natural hair.”

“I love Singapore's rooftop bars.”

“I believe that music can encourage you to move on from painful events. It helps to make a scar fade.”

“My whole vibe is not really fronty and aggressive and blingy.”

“Don't spend time wishing your life away, waiting for things to be perfect.”