JADE BIRD

I never really put nature into my record, but I think environment is important, and I think environment has an effect on your person.

I can't emphasize enough how much of a writer I am.

People like to associate you with hard times and I pride myself on coming through them more than experiencing them.

I like my jumpsuits. They're easy to get about in, I can move a bit onstage, there's nothing to tuck in, and I don't look like a little girl.

I listen to a lot of artists like Tori Amos, Cherry Glazerr, and Patti Smith, and I kind of wanted to follow in their footsteps, or at least try to be that genre-defining.

I always respected country music for its narrative and how it's so solid, you can get the picture in your mind.

But when I was 12 or 13, I found the acoustic guitar and got into guitar music ultimately, like Black Motorcycle Club, obviously Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash.

There's quite a stigma attached to country music in the UK - but I kind of enjoy that.

There's not point in doing anything without conviction.

I don't see any reason why young women shouldn't relate to me and have that connection with my music.

I think I'm eclectic and I'm never afraid to not know an artist or a band or an album because I want to hear it.

I am a bit of a granny, I feel older than my years. I like to read rather than go to parties but at the same time my band and I have a lot of fun on tour and can be big kids.

I'd been gigging since I was 14, doing little competitions and pubs and clubs and old people's homes.

My mum brought me up by herself, pretty much. She had me at the age of 20, and my grandmother was a single mother, too, for most of her life.

I think that I'm a powerful female, a young singer-songwriter with an energy that's not really been done before. I think that's what people need to know about, you know.

I see magic in conversation and words, and music is purely speaking to others, isn't it?

I'm just thinking about the vision for how I want my music to go and what I want it to say. I'm always creating in a way, even if it's just thinking about it.

No artist is one-dimensional. I get the sense that if I push myself now and if I create a million different-sounding songs - I just feel that's going to be such a set-up for my ability in the future.

No one ever wants to be the girl that got her relationship wrong again, but if you let your cynicism take over you risk never falling in love.

I've often been told that if music doesn't work out I could be a comedian.

It was always quite negative messages on love I was given as a kid.

My grandparents divorced, both of them, and then my mum and dad did. So it's like, divorce, divorce, divorce.

I've always been into music. My mom and dad used to always play music in the house.

I work a lot on words, so if I hear a word or see a word or a phrase or a sentence that someone says to me it just immediately sparks a concept.

I never expected I was going to travel the world playing gigs with my band and best friends. I have surpassed any dreams I had.