Quotes from Corinne Bailey Rae

I don't get involved with what other people say in reviews.

I was really enjoying playing 'The Sea,' but it is quite an intense and emotional record.

My first flight was to Majorca as a 17-year-old and I went to Seattle to visit a friend after that. But the first time I really ventured out abroad to Canada and Japan as well as to Europe, to France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, was to promote my first album.

In my own studio, I can just lock the door and record myself, do layers of vocals not knowing how they are going to turn out, and just scrap it if it doesn't work. It's my space. I'm running everything.

Everything I do I just want to be real and honest.

I wouldn't describe the artist Theaster Gates as a mentor, but I pay attention and keep my ears open when I'm with him.

I don't only like R&B. I always love in life when you see people acting in a way that is true and genuine to them but doesn't fit into the perceived notion of how they would respond to something.

Language and poetry are endlessly fascinating. The most brilliant work can be so sparse yet so full of meaning. That's what I'm looking for in a song: imagery to describe things in ways that are perfectly concise. I'm constantly trying to find one hard, crystal thing.

As an artist, you want to form your own identity and be your own performer.

Belly made me aware that you could write songs that were mysterious or vulnerable. Their guitar-led music was in some ways very simple, the opposite of the pop music I was brought up with, like Michael Jackson. It made me realise music was something that you could be part of, make in your room.

The Caribbean has had a big impact on me. It's very outdoorsy, people don't really spend a lot of time indoors. There's so much light and sunshine.

When you're in a relationship with someone, it's so much about tearing down the walls between you two that you sort of confuse what is you and what is them. When you lose them, you question: 'What is left of me?'

Being a musician is quite cerebral - there's a lot of sitting around.

Chaos to me is really important in music.

When Prince is into what you're doing, it's just surreal.

Home is a sanctuary for me and the place where I can relax. Everyone should have the right to a safe and secure home.

With 'The Sea,' I was just thinking about loss, about the impact losing your father would have on you as a child, how one event that big could colour your life, bleed into everything else and force you into a certain shape.

I'm compelled to make music.

You know, I think that nature has such a powerful message about moving from dark to light, and bitterness to sweetness.

I never wanted to be a pop star.

I'm not some kind of preacher saying 'You have to have natural hair,' but for me it's easier.

Life is full of things that you can't predict.

I believe that energy can't be destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. There's more to life than we can conceive of.

My dad, Chris, is from St Kitts. He worked in computers. I remember the first laptop when he brought it home. People from primary school came to check it out - it was huge.