If I go out with no make-up and a tracksuit on, nobody comes up to me. And if they do, I won't do a photo because I wouldn't want any photographic evidence.

Once you accept that we're all imperfect, it's the most liberating thing in the world. Then you can go around making mistakes and saying the wrong thing and tripping over on the street and all that and not feel worried.

I think I'd be a million times more successful and more iconic if I was a singer in the '40s. I'd be allowed a level of mystery, and I think I'd suit that decade.

I really like to please people, and I think it's a symptom of being an only child.

Cinema affects everything, from the way I get dressed to how I build my stages.

I want my shows to be eerie and mysterious.

I enjoy being a girl.

Celebrity culture is an aspirational culture regardless of how much you don't want it to be.

I think everybody should focus on inner beauty.

I wasn't really comfortable reading until I was 12.

Adele's like a beacon of honesty. Doesn't compromise, goes to America and she's still the same sweary cockney.

I'd love to say that I could write political songs, but I don't feel clued-up enough.

I don't know anyone, from any class, who's had a perfectly easy life. I've met people born into wealthy families who feel like they didn't have much emotional support, and people who come from working-class families who had loads of love but no money.

Working with Terry Gilliam was magic - I've been watching his films since I was little.

I'm proud of being British, but I think our aristocracy is overrated.

I like sparkles; I think I'm a magpie.

I'd say that, first and foremost, I'm a performer; I started performing when I was four years old, and being on stage from a young age set me up.

I'm not one for sightseeing or going around the shops when I'm on holiday. I do enough shopping when I'm at home, and like to have a complete break when I'm away.

I don't normally have time to read, so when I go away I like to take a few books.

I travel regularly and have learnt to be very methodical as far as packing is concerned. For example, I always check the weather in advance of where I'm going to ensure that I've packed the right clothes.

I feel curious about every situation I'm in.

When I do my shows, it's really cross-generational. Sometimes there's three generations there.

I love going to the cinema. Whenever I get time off, that's where I go.

I try not to brand myself 'weird' any more because it sticks.

I love interesting people with eccentric stories and outsiders of the world.

When you research prolific songwriters, it is usually later in their career they write songs that they distance themselves from, or it's about other people.

I'm under no illusion that there are things about me that I'd like to change. I just accept who I am, and I'm proud of it.

Some men think that if you're empowered and sure of yourself then you're a man-hater, but it's like, 'No, I'm just the same as you are, but maybe just a tiny bit more confident.'

I'm so used to changing time zones that I can sleep at any time. I'm rarely ever tossing and turning - if I am, it's really a big deal.

The freedom that money gives you makes you... well, I wouldn't say happy, but I'd say it gives you diversity.

I use debit cards for everyday purchases, as I don't believe in credit cards. But this has caused problems, especially with American touring, because I refuse to have a credit card - and in America you can't pay for anything on a debit card.

Anybody who says they don't want to be seen on a show which has millions of people watching it at one time when they're in the business of selling records is a bit silly.

I've spent a lot of time being bohemian and sleeping on floors, but eventually I want to have kids and I want to bring them up in a secure environment.

I am inspired by show girls and Vegas. I was a cabaret performer, so that's where all that influence comes from.

Sometimes people fear the truth. They'd rather not speak to you than know what you really think.

I think soul is soul. I don't see new soul as any different to old soul.

I think that there should be options available, quite early on, that if someone is recognised as a disruptive child, for them to be trained vocationally. Maybe if those kids were given the option to learn how to contribute to society on a practical level they wouldn't get into trouble.

My desire to experiment comes from my attention-deficit approach to cosmetics. I just get really bored, really easily.

All the things that I find beautiful have a darkness about them.

I vote Labour and can't begin to acknowledge anything good that comes from a Tory.

Curvy is something to be proud of.

I wish I was more stupid because I'm either completely ecstatic and joyous and absolutely high as a kite or I'm a bit morbid. There's never anything in between.

I don't understand why the accent you speak in has to indicate what level of intellect you have.

I'm really into food; it's one of my favourite things - everything from potato waffles to lobster.

I was once in a long relationship with a man who ran a vintage clothes store but had been a chef, so I'd come home each night to a different three-course meal. I was quite fat, but so happy.

Real talent shines through regardless of how many others there are around you.

I like someone with a really good and dark sense of humour.

My mum came from nothing and didn't have many opportunities in her youth, and she blames a lot of her social inadequacies on that.

I just have an inability to lie.

I lend people money, but I'd never lend something that would jeopardise a friendship if I didn't get it back.