I think everybody identified at a pretty young age that I was fairly entranced with myself. And that I had to be tempered.

I think from a very young age I always have this desire to perform.

I definitely was always expected and encouraged to be a songwriter from a very young age, ... But really it's because, as a child, I thought I was Judy Garland. And when I started out, I was a little nuts. I thought I was a classic, legendary superstar when only 10 people knew who I was. I feel in some ways that my confidence is misinterpreted as arrogance, which is understandable. But I've also always thought that false modesty is evil.

“It seems like the older I get, the more unreal the world becomes.”

I've written songs for Shirley Bassey, Marianne Faithfull, and Linda Thompson. I sort of focus on these wonderful, aging divas. But maybe that's because I think I'm Christina Aguilera.

You can imagine the kind of dinner parties I had to go to at a young age... pretty dull.