My father was a very difficult man.

My musical career was an accident.

Once a song's out there, it's no longer mine. And that's the whole purpose of music: to belong to people.

People generally let me be me. People are aware that I'm not someone particularly begging for attention. They hold back a bit with me.

Radio interviews are really snappy and I'm just bad at that. I just close down.

The anxiety I feel when I'm late is nothing like the anxiety I feel when I'm on time.

To be a mother you must be strong. Even if you don't feel it, you have to pretend.

When I go into the studio, I completely detach. I let my emotions come out.

When I was young, people were almost identified solely by the kind of music they liked. People fell into categories of who liked what.

When you tour, you regain the music and the connection with the audience.

From being at art college, I've always hated people that have the gall to think that they're being incredibly different when they're doing something in a very acceptable way, something safe that they've seen someone else doing.

I always said that if I could just find a guy who could chop wood and had a nice smile, it wouldn't bother me if he was a thug or an aristocrat, as long as he was a good guy. And I've ended up with an educated thug.

People are so used to having their lives filmed, they're not even conscious of having cameras around. I still have that sort of suspicion when a camera comes out. I view it as a thing to fear.

When you play arenas you can create whatever you want. At a theater the height of the stage and the limitations of the theater can make you feel more separate from the audience.

I can't see myself just endlessly singing the same songs over and over again.

I just aspire to pick people up. That's my ambition.

I'm not anti-fashion, but I've always had a bit of a punk attitude. That's important, I think. I do my own thing.

I'm not shy or reclusive. I just spend my time with people rather than journalists.

There isn't a class structure in Nigeria; there's a tribal structure and prestige as far as money is concerned.

Whatever I'm doing, I'm in that moment and I'm doing it. The rest of the world's lost. If I'm cooking some food or making soup, I want it to be lovely. If not, what's the point of doing it?