Shura

“Someone will say, 'Shura's album is about being a gay woman in London.' Umm, I feel like my album's just about me. I am a gay woman, and I live in London... It's not about being a gay woman in London.”

“I take inspiration from so many places. I think, more than anything, it would have to be the music made by others that I've then fallen in love with, whether it's Madonna, Blood Orange, Fleetwood Mac, or Pink Floyd!”

“For me, one song is not enough to be in a person's world. I need to be in their world for 40 minutes; I want to fully experience it and immerse myself.”

“There's a part of me that's ambitious.”

“The hardest thing is having to do selfies even when you're on your period and you're queuing at Superdrug to get ibuprofen. That's when I'm like, 'You know what? I don't feel like Shura today.'”

“It's strange: I love pop music, and I really can enjoy it, but I didn't feel like the characters within pop music - like when Madonna sings 'Crazy For You', for instance, I don't feel like I would ever be the character she takes on in that song. I would never feel... I don't have that confidence in me.”

“Producing albums is 100 per cent where I would love to be, later in my career.”

“When I wasn't working, I was learning how to use production software on YouTube and making music.”

“It's probably the first type of music we had, rhythm, whether it's poetry or tapping.”

“There's something about rhythm and bass sections generally, how the bass and drums interact, that's basically the soul of any song.”

“When you have a lot of gay friends, you don't think of that as being different or divisive or weird; that's just your reality.”

“I'd written songs since I was 16, but I never thought that I would be a musician full time.”

“I love scarves and hats and coats. I love it.”

“I've had relationships before where you break up, and you think you're going to die, and then you realise you're definitely not going to die, and actually, you're probably better off without them.”

“Pop music for introverts is an idea I wanted to explore.”

“As I grew in confidence, I was able to come out and say that I'm a musician.”

“There are two ways of dealing with being odd. One is to really try and conform, and the other is to do the opposite and really make a thing out of it. At school, it wasn't that I was bullied, but everyone was very aware that I was different. I was kind of the token weird person that people accepted into their group, almost like an accessory.”

“From collaborating with other people, you make concessions, and those concessions are great because sometimes you are definitely wrong.”

“I'm massively inspired by 'True Blue'-era Madonna, but she is absolutely confident and in control of the situation.”

“It is important that you're out, and it is important that you're visible.”