Quotes from Corinne Bailey Rae

People make assumptions about me based on my music. I've literally had people stop me in the street: 'You are so sweet. I bet you haven't had a bad thought in your whole life!' I'm like, 'Really? I hate to disappoint you!'

As an artist, you have to express yourself. You just can't stop being an artist.

I really like melodies that have a certain tension against the chords. I like writing things that are sort of insistent.

The sea, the majestic sea, breaks everything, crushes everything, cleans everything, takes everything...from me

I started an all-girl band called Helen when I was 15. It wasn't a precocious thing to do - everyone we knew was in a band, and all the bars and pubs in Leeds put on nights.

Like a Star' has a very simple melody, and when you play it, it's only about three notes for ages, and it's quite boring. But when you hear the chords, the chords are sort of different than the melody, and it's pulling it around and making it mean something else.

I recognize that my voice is kind of quirky, and I don't have a lot of range. But I use it kind of in a conversational way, like Billie Holiday, I guess.

I don't think, like, 'I've got to sell so many records here, or so many records there.' That's the record label's job. They've got to worry about how were doing in Kazakhstan or Germany. My job is just to write and sing.

I like to be on my own before I do a gig.

Playing gigs is what it's about for me.

I went from playing small gigs for 80 people to like 2,000 or 3,000 people, and they were arriving with all this expectation and excitement.

I love the idea of the winter rose that's sort of sleeping underneath the soil. Underneath all the snow is this plant that was growing and developing and could present itself as this beautiful flower in this time where everything else around it is very barren.

When I was getting it relaxed, I almost wished my hair didn't grow, because it was so expensive and broke easily.

Don't spend time wishing your life away, waiting for things to be perfect.

I guess that's the main thing when someone dies, the realisation that you won't get to be with them and talk to them.

I don't respond well to time pressure - when you're in the studio, with the clock ticking, and the record company's waiting for you to lay a golden egg. Wherever it is my music comes from, it just doesn't show up when the pressure is on.

Reggae is not music I know inside-out.

I find it easy to relax, but I'm always thinking about songs.

I'm just a generally hopeful person.

I love the Bowery Hotel by night.

I saw tons of young black girls who really got the message of 'Put Your Records On,' which is specifically a message for black girls about self-love and embracing your natural hair.

I won this poll thing in England about predictions, and it was all these journalists and reporters trying to say that I was going to be big in '06. My name was at the top of their list. I was like, are you sure you've got the right person?

I would love to one day see the rock churches in Ethiopia and learn about the history of Rastafari in the country, as well as see the amazing landscapes of Iceland.

I really enjoy touring and playing music to people.