I wanted to give people a taste of my own music through the sound and style of my covers.
Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.
But why is it that in music, anything more than 5 years old - apart from a few hits - is never played on radio to the young public?
Radio and TV can still push a band, but things need to be shaken up. There is the Internet, but mostly what I see there is little kids on YouTube playing music.
When I got into music, I wanted to learn guitar just enough to be able to write songs. I wanted to be able to express myself.
I studied audio engineering at university. The background I am from, music was never seen as a viable career; it was always a hobby.
For too long, musicians have been the greatest enemy of music. Their lack of desire to proselytize is a kind of betrayal.
That's the exact concept behind the music: to take that kind of, I guess whatever you want to call it, jazz sensibility - but not have it be about solos.
I spent a lot of time in Tower Records. I'm a huge music nerd, and Tower was instrumental to me when I was growing up.
Despite all the technical improvements, it still boils down to a man or a woman and a microphone, playing music, sharing stories, talking about issues - communicating with an audience.
Stone walls confine a tinker; cold iron binds a witch; but a musician's music can never be fettered, for it lives first in her heart and mind.
Not compromising the music, but there is a way, by just showing the people that you're sincere and honest with what you're doing, and by talking to them.
I can only speak for myself - there were times when I just wasn't inspired by creating music.
Music is unique because you can get behind enemy lines a little bit, get into people's houses and into their heads, on their stereos, and win hearts and minds.
I used to be fast and loose with the term 'country' because I didn't know what else to call my music. I still don't.
Music can kind of make you one-dimensional. People see what's on the surface and what you rap about, and they make their decision on who you are from there.
I made the decision that I was going to make rap music in, like, fourth grade, so it's been something I was saying for a long time.
I had always thought that I would do something that was connected to music as a career, or possibly Chinese, which was my major.
I think I'm no different from any artist in music. At least once, you want to see your name up on the top.
Beethoven's music tends to move from chaos to order, as if order were an imperative of human existence.
Before recording technology existed, you could not separate music from its social context.
