Michelle Zauner

I read Lorrie Moore and Marilynne Robinson and Jhumpa Lahiri and Richard Ford, John Updike, Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov - all of whom I really fell in love with.

I never really wanted to be a journalist, honestly. I always wanted to be a writer, and I thought the only way to apply that interest was with journalism - when you're young and you want to be a writer, it seems like the most practical thing to do with those types of ambitions.

I've been lucky to come up when there's such a huge explosion of women, and especially Asian women, in music.

When I started doing press after college, I never got asked about my racial identity; I was asked more about being a girl in music.

My relationship to music is such an essential part of who I am, and was a big part of my relationship with my mom.

I have naturally always been a grossly oversharing type of person.

I don't really listen to podcasts - I like one podcast and it's called Song Exploder.

I think with any art making, there's a sense of urgency that you have for people to understand you.

I knew that I wanted my third album to be the most drama and the strongest foot forward - every muscle flexing and using all the tools that you have in the toolbox.

I was always interested in being a writer. Yet, at the time, it somehow seemed more unfeasible to be a writer than a musician.

Persimmons are pretty present in a lot of Asian cultures, as gifts that you give to people.

When I write a song, that process is sort of entwined with a lyric or a chord progression that suits the vibe, and that'll work off each other.

I was very much a work horse my whole life.

It was really difficult to tour on 'Psychopomp' for a year and do the press cycle and talk to people three or four times a day about my mom dying.

I quit music and decided I was going to work a 9-to-5 job in advertising... which in New York City is more like, 8-to-7.

I had this idea of writing a sci-fi musical about a woman who falls in love with a robot and realizes it's a love that can't be, and enlists in the Mars One project.

I'm a very impatient person. I like things to be done. So I complete a lot of projects, but it helps to partner or collaborate with someone who's the opposite because they can tell me when to slow down.

Sometimes I can really agonize over a creative project and forget that it's essentially professional play, you know?

When I'm in America, everyone thinks of me as the Asian girl. When I go to Korea, everyone thinks of me as an American.

I think growing up, I didn't ever attempt to define my Koreanness. It was just this intrinsic part of me.