I really love music that's on the periphery of not fitting into a clear genre. I felt like I was constantly being described as something I didn't really feel like I identified with.
I'm not a goddess, for crying out loud. I'm a regular person who took feminism - which I have a deep connection to - and mixed it with music, which I really love to do.
I love to have a bath with beautiful, relaxing music on and have no rush to do anything. It's a wonderful indulgence, and it helps me to calm down and stop my mind running overtime.
There's a new hit rock group or singer every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever.
Of course I have bills to pay, but at the same time, it's more about the passion and the love, and I think that's where music should come from, the heart, not necessarily just to cash a check.
I want my fans to love themselves. It's almost like I want to hypnotize them so when they hear my music they love themselves instantly.
But you know, I'm not 25 anymore, and I have always said musical theater in particular is a young person's game. It requires energy, mentally and physically, to do it.
'Evita' obviously would always be very special to me because it was the first major musical that I did on stage and created in the U.K. with Hal Prince directing.
I've never really been a confident person, except from a musical standpoint. I had to push myself early on, but it got easier with each gig.
Each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music, my dreams will have to die another day.
The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.
So imagine that the lovely moon is playing just for you - everything makes music if you really want it to.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar
I ended up doing a local AmDram musical when I was nine or so. We had to sing and dance and act. It was probably terrible, but I loved it.
Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today.
I may never get my own action figure, but at least I think what I'm doing is really legitimate musically.
Watching artists like Joplin perform, I felt that tingle down my spine; I experienced the wonders of a cultural and musical revolution.
If I could perform on stage with any musical act or performer, it would be Sugar Ray, just to fulfill my childhood dream of singing with Mark McGrath.
When I read a daring book or listen to rebellious music, I feel like I've found what freedom really means.
I'm proud of the fact that I've taken a lot of big directors, such as Trevor Nunn and Nick Hytner, who were musical virgins, and introduced them to the form.
It seems like everything I do musically I tend to lose a few fans and gain a few fans, and it all kind of evens out.
