I have a lot of admiration for people who've been in relationships a long time, married for years.

You cannot schedule death.

I don't have a competitive bone in my body, so the last thing I want to do is be competing with people.

I'm not a downtrodden woman. I just won't be.

We live in a society where everything's packaged.

Whatever you are, you have the right to get married.

I'm very affected by what I watch and read.

I stay true to my lyrics. If I go back and look at them in hindsight, the emotions I had when I wrote them have passed. It feels unjustified to change them.

We all get old, but I always say the skinny, pretty girls will be screwed.

Anything that's on television as often as someone on 'The X Factor' is what's successful. That doesn't mean that I condone that or think that it's right. To be honest, I'd be the first to say I think it's a shame. But if that's the way it is then that's the way it is.

All creative people have to have vulnerability because those nuances are what move people. So I'm deeply insecure - but I'm good at hiding it.

I think initially, the record industry struggled a lot with digital media because there are a lot of aspects to it that can potentially destroy our industry.

There's nothing better than achieving your goals, whatever they might be.

You feel a sense of elation seeing yourself on a billboard.

A lot of men do have a fear of my ultra-femininity. Sometimes people say I look like a drag queen, that I look scary, but I think that's a fear of my confidence. Most women in contemporary culture pare down their femininity, so there's a slight androgyny about them, and I think men have got used to seeing that.

I try to stick to a certain diet all the time, and then when I feel like a reward, I have it. I try to stick to no dairy, no sugar, no wheat.

I dread the idea of a paparazzi snapping me while I'm out running.

I was mainly raised by a working mum who didn't have much time or inclination for making food. So I had three or four basic meals: fish fingers and a tomato; a packet scotch egg and a tomato; pasta with a tin of tomatoes; and extra mild plastic-y cheddar chopped into cubes with bits of cucumber.

I don't overthink when I'm styling. I kind of forgive myself and accept that I will make mistakes. Getting dressed should be a fun experience!

You know, my mum's always encouraged me and never made my gender an issue, I guess. She brought me up to believe in equality, as opposed to feminism or sexism - so it just meant that my gender was not relevant to what I was capable of achieving.

My favourite authors are Milan Kundera and Jeanette Winterson.

It's tragic that you can define a whole movement in music by gender alone. People are like, 'Oh, look, another quirky girl.'

I get to know my regular fans, and they inspire me.

Mum doesn't like it when I mention that Dad's a better cook than her. He was born in Spain and spent eight years in Portugal and is exceptional at lots of cuisines.

Dressing up is like therapy; I feel better in myself when I've made an effort.

I'd rather die than let somebody get the better of me.

There's nothing wrong with a thick eyebrow; Frida Kahlo had them.

I get plenty of, 'Is that song about me?' from men but I just tell them to get over themselves.

I don't feel I fit in with morning television because I'm like a vampire and I like to stay up late.

I don't connect much with the present. I have more of an affinity for what came in the past.

I feel quite excited about the possibility of working on multiple albums. There's something really iconic about having a catalog featuring a lot of albums, and I'd love to have that legacy.

I think what makes me different from the average Joe is that I feel free to be myself and express myself in the way that I want. If that makes you mad, we're living in a world of dire straits. If anything, it makes you more sane.

Ever since I was little, my mum used to choose an outfit for me and lay it on the bed so I'd know what I was wearing the next day. I never went to a uniformed school, so I always had an outfit - and I never really grew out of that, I don't think.

It's amazing living alone. I'm very lucky. It's like a refuge.

I love Andre 3000 from OutKast. I think we'd complement each other, but I'm hoping he's got a good sense of humour.

I go running three times a week - outside in the park, come rain or shine, and I hate every moment of it. I hate everything about it. But I know it's important for health reasons and the reason why I run, in particular, is because my stage work is like cardiovascular work so I don't want to lose my breath on stage.

I really hate bureaucracy and the idea that I'm not a free person.

I feel quite fearless protecting the people I love.

If I get in a relationship, it's always for the long-term; if not, I don't see the point.

It's refreshing to have some time off from wondering whether I look fat.

Just as dressing well in your forties entails making choices that reflect who you are and not just wearing generic basics, looking good as you get older requires accentuating and enjoying what's specific to you rather than striving for cookie-cutter perfection.

Being an immigrant mother can be hard, but being a poor immigrant mother is much harder. You don't generally get to sit in cafes polishing your French by reading 'Le Monde.'

One of the many problems with parenting is that kids keep changing. Just when you're used to one stage, they zoom into another.

When I was 41, I had a very bad back pain, and it turned out to be Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

When I tell French parents that I know lots of American kids who will eat only pasta or only white rice, they can't believe it. I mean, they can understand how the kid left to his own devices might do that, but they can't imagine that parents would allow that to happen.

Where Americans might coo over a child's most inane remark to boost his confidence, middle-class French parents teach their kids to be concise and amusing, to keep everyone listening.

My family was once invited to lunch at a chateau owned by a friend of a friend. As we drove our rental car up to the giant castle, my kids gasped and said, 'They must be rich!'

Teach your kids emotional intelligence. Help them become more evolved than you are. Explain that, for instance, not everyone will like them.

Podcasts immersed me in colloquial English and put me back in the American zeitgeist.

Soon after Donald Trump was inaugurated, I got a letter from France's interior ministry informing me that I was now French. By the time it arrived, I'd been French for nearly two weeks without even knowing it.