Obviously when you're a teen you have no money, so you make, like, three outfits out of one dress. You're like, 'OK cut the arms here. Alright: New party, cut them to here.'
— Marina and the Diamonds
My style icons are Leigh Lezark, Gwen Stefani and Shirley Manson.
I love natural beauty, and I think it's your best look, but I think makeup as an artist is so transformative.
I really like the look of the 1950s, lots of suburban Americana influences. I'm 5'4', so I like kitten heels occasionally because I can move around a bit easier, but pointy-toed pumps are very elongating.
Success, I've come to realise, is fleeting so you shouldn't value it too much.
Love is really my nemesis. I never really allowed myself to indulge in such basic things because I was so motivated and thought that if I did I wouldn't succeed.
Actually, I think that a lot of the interviews and acoustic sessions and other things that artists fill their time with are really pointless and suck the energy out of the artist.
I don't just want to sing about simplistic things all the time. It's good to have a mix of songs that have a real depth, and that provoke and challenge people, and then songs that are fun and people can enjoy.
I hate the whole 'record your album, do your promo campaign, have a year off to write another album' pattern. As an artist, you should keep creating as much as you possibly can.
You know what, if you compromise and do stuff that's not becoming to you as an artist, that's your fault.
Nobody will admit to playing power games in relationships, but they do.
When you are in the studio, you don't have anybody to feed off of; meanwhile, when you are playing live, you interact with people and you feel the energy in the room. When the crowd is going crazy, that definitely impacts your vocal performance. I prefer to sing live.
I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It's time to move on from Stripperville.
I'm just waiting for the moment where it's accepted that women are just as sexual as men without women having to be overtly sexy just to prove how 'liberated' they are.
I am absolutely not a roll-on-stage kind of girl! I would be totally freaked out if I didn't warm up, and I don't know how other singers do it.
You have to be your biggest believer.
I've always been interested in how fast-moving our identity is and that I've never been able to pin down who I truly am. That inspires me to write, because I feel like that cements me a bit, in that I find my identity in being an artist.
I love pop music because you can really see what's currently happening in society.
I was always very creative. I was always into acting and dancing when I was younger.
I have quite a lot of plastic sunglasses. It's just a nice accessory, it adds a final thing, and it's my favorite way of figuring an outfit.
I really do want people to listen to the music more than watch what I wear. There's time for that later. I've got the rest of my life to dress up and look nice.
I felt connected with Madonna from a very young age. I think I share a lot of qualities from her personality. I really respect her.
I do have a memo all the time because I need to be guided by something in my life. I'm not religious and I don't have idols, so something has to drive me.
This obsession with celebrity culture is really unhealthy. I don't want to live my life like that, and I don't want to be a typical pop star.
I'm not going to lie; I'm not a huge remix person.
I think celebrity culture and sexuality in pop music is really important, but I want there to be an alternative for people.
There's no one particular road that will lead you to success. I think everybody will find it differently.
I could draw up a list of about 30 artists who I apparently sound like. From Lady Gaga, to Katy Perry to Lana Del Rey. I don't know if it's because I'm versatile or because production affects how people judge music. I can't wait for a time I can just be classed as myself.
I lived in Greece for about four years of my life, and living there had a huge impact on my life growing up. My father was very much adamant that we would learn about our culture. It's a very rich culture to be a part of since it has such a great history behind it. I definitely carry that in my job, and I am very passionate.
I turned off my Google alerts in 2009 as I learnt that following yourself on the Internet very quickly becomes unhealthy.
I didn't even listen to any music until I was 19, really. I just wanted to be famous. But I didn't say it to anyone because I was really embarrassed at the thought.
There's nothing I'd never wear, really. I've worn pink spotty pajamas from a Goodwill store onstage before. This only happens when I'm having a small breakdown!
Lots of narcissistic people have helped lots of other people with their music. That's such a narcissistic thing to say! Ha ha!
If you don't want to have your private life splashed everywhere, why go to the restaurants and the places you know you're going to be photographed?
Touring can be tough; the crew and I travel everywhere by a big pink bus, and live in petrol stations.
Rejection is a universally embarrassing topic and 'Electra Heart' is my response to that. It is a frank album.
I feel weird without lipstick. Even after the first time I wore a really neon pink or a really bright red, I felt really strange without it there. My lips are a main feature, so I feel naked without them.
I don't think I'm an instantaneous act the whole world will love in one second - but that's how I've felt about bands I love.
I thought for a long time that I was going to be a pop artist. It was around 18-19 that I started to make that a reality. I just knew that this was my destiny.
That's when you know you really fit with someone - when you can just sit there and not do anything. Kind of ignoring each other.
Hollywood infected my brain and I really valued the wrong things in life, but I changed dramatically.
I actually quite like promo, which is quite odd for an artist, but recording's not the easiest thing.
I think some people just have an innate musical ability, and I'm lucky enough to be one of those people.
I've read every Madonna biography. I've also looked up every pop star to see how they first made it. The biggest thing I learnt was that you have to be pro-active. You can't be scared.
Music is my 90% of my life and my biggest passion. I really don't have an interest in anything else.
I'm masquerading as an innocent pop star.
I'm a very, very disciplined person.
My dad's quite a conservative person, and he brought me up to be very questioning of the commercial world. He looked down on pop culture. I definitely got the impression that pop was evil and that Britney Spears was evil.
I often take things I find in vintage crawls and hand them to a very good seamstress, who then replicates them and makes a more robust version in different colors, with a pocket for my mic pack.
What I hate is that not many people admit to having a big ego, but you have to - and there's nothing wrong with it.
