Florence Welch

“I'm really careful with what the music gets put with, and we say no to so much stuff, loads of it, for things that might quadruple the sales of my album. But if it doesn't fit then it doesn't fit, you know?”

“When making the first album, I think I wrote a song about every six months. The first album was so much about the vocals carrying it.”

“If you asked me to go back to being 14 or 15, I couldn't - it was a terrifying time. I was so awkward in my own skin. I used to hide behind my hair because I was so ridiculously self-conscious.”

“On stage, you can use your emotions. It's the place where you can channel them. They have a purpose.”

“I've got quite a vivid imagination and I'm easily overwhelmed by sensations and things that are beautiful or scary. I don't think I've ever seen a ghost - I think I'm probably haunted by my own ghosts than real ones.”

“I think I just get excited by music, and, like, singing is a very physical thing. It releases endorphins in your body. You're using almost muscle in there, and I think that adrenaline really helps to kind of make the songs fresh every time.”

“Music to me is so internal. It's physical and it's emotional. Whereas fashion is so much about the external that it's almost like a break. It's not inner turmoil. It's total escapism.”

“I've built my wardrobe color palette around red, so I'm happy with it, but I do get pangs when I see beautiful brunettes. I've already been blue, green, black, and blonde.”

“I saw 'The Artist.' It's really beautiful and it's all done to the letter with all the silent film techniques. The costumes were amazing and the dog is so good.”

“I try to write lyrics so that they won't age, which sort of leaves you with the big subjects like death and love and sex and violence.”

“At the beginning of my career I was going through a really weird phase of dressing in boys clothes. I would only wear one American Apparel T-shirt and shorts and brogues the whole year round. Not the same T-shirt, obviously, but one style of American Apparel T-shirt. I think I was going through a tomboy stage.”

“I can't ever seem to shake the feeling that when things are really good it essentially means that things are going to go really bad. When I feel calm and settled, there is always an underlying feeling of impending doom... I don't think that it's healthy.”

“I'm completely in love with the world but also terrified of it. It creates some overwhelming feelings. Wanting to battle out that joy and fear is part of my music.”

“It would be too frightening for me to consider myself a role model. But I like the idea of not being afraid of letting your imagination rule you, to feel the freedom of expression, to let creativity be your overwhelming drive rather than other things.”

“I like to wear clothes that I will wear when I am an old lady.”

“A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes.I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind.The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out.You left me in the dark.No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight.In the shadow of your heart.And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat.I tried to find the sound.But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,So darkness I became.I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map.And knew that somehow I could find my way back.Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too.So I stayed in the darkness with you.”

“I'm just a black hole for stuff. No one should ever hand me anything, because I get so easily distracted. I'll be like, 'Oh, look, something shiny!' I'm glad I never learned how to drive. I would be really dangerous.”

“I'm down to bleach my eyebrows again. I tell you what, though - that didn't go down well with my boyfriend. Girls love it. Guys, not so into it.”

“I am obsessed with the whole Victoriana thing, the whole Jack the Ripper London era, the grayness of it, the haunted feeling of it, all ancient and bloody.”

“My style of playing is more enthusiasm and instinct than skill.”