Charli XCX

I was only 14 when I started playing the east London rave scene. At the time, I was so captivated by everything. I didn't ever wanna progress out of that scene.

The scenes in 'The Virgin Suicides' where Elle Fanning is ice skating are really amazing.

I want my music, whether it's sung by other people or sung by myself, to affect the way the Top 40 radio sounds. I want to heavily influence it with things that have come directly from my brain.

I'll listen to 3 artists on repeat for more than a month.

I spent a lot of my teenage years experimenting with who I was as a person and not really getting it right. And then, I think, I realized that I just had to chill out in life.

I used to try to bully my friends into imitating the Spice Girls on the playground.

From the moment I stepped into this industry, I've always had to fight for my ideas and for my voice to be heard.

I think I'm a girl's girl in the sense that I support women a lot, and I'm definitely all for girl power, but I think I'm quite a tomboy at heart - even though I love my fashion and dressing up, I think my essence is very boyish.

To be honest, for me, my main workout is when I'm on stage. Even though I make pop music, I don't think I perform in the classic 'pop star' sort of way. I'm very active on stage; I always end up dripping in sweat afterwards. It's always like a full-on, wild performance, so that's pretty much like my exercise, I would say.

There are days where I can go into a room full of people, talk to every single person, and feel completely at ease, and feel like making every single person laugh, and feel like everyone's having a great time. There are other times where I go into a room of people, and I literally want to run and hide.

Pop music is getting so emo. It's great. Emotional girl for life. I see myself in the centre of that.

I'm just not very good at being happy all the time.

I was in the playground, like, 'Let's imitate the Spice Girls and form a girl group!' I would go home and sing into my hairbrush and act like Britney Spears. I was no Mozart.

Some people think of feminine as just being pretty and quiet and sweet, but I also think being feminine is being angry and also being sexy and aggressive and passionate.

I definitely went through a phase where I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was younger... But I certainly wasn't very good at it.

All my favourite pop songs are the most stupid ones, the ones that are the most obvious.

Most of my favorite artists are strong females.

I always think about fashion when it comes to making music and music videos... what the colours will look like, what the material will be, how will it work with the sound of the music.

I was never the cool kid in school, and loads of people told me that I was weird, that I dressed uncool and did uncool things, that I was too nice, too happy.

I'm not a dumb idiot just because of what I wear.