Florence Welch

“It's very flattering when you look into the crowd and people have made an effort and dressed in your style.”

“I've always been able to just concoct a melody quite easily - it's just kind of instinct, really. You've got to channel your subconscious.”

“I have this sensation of being in flight all the time, but being on stage is like creating a sanctuary in which you can completely lose yourself. The bits of your personality that you keep under wraps in ordinary life, you can let them run free.”

“I think I should get a bigger between-the-song persona, so then I'm not wandering around the stage like some mad old auntie that's saying hello to people and falling over.”

“When something really hits me, it makes me want to either jump off something really high or lie down and be buried. I want people to get hit and caught by my music.”

“I'd gone from being this art student messing about with music to this girl with a record deal, magazine front covers and all this hype. In many ways, it was everything I ever wanted, but when it happened all I felt was total, paralysing fear.”

“The stage is a place where I can be wholly myself. Even though you're in front of people almost to be judged, it is a place without judgement.”

“I feel a responsibility to the fans who have paid to see me and I want to give as good a show as I possibly can.”

“I quite like the drama of an encore. I think an encore is for those artists who are inclined to do dramatic gestures, and I certainly would say I am inclined towards them.”

“I've been having this really weird anxiety dream about arriving too late or too early, and the people in charge are like, 'You have to leave! You have to go back to the hotel and get ready!' And I use the wrong exit, and I'm running down the red carpet in pyjamas, like, 'No! Don't look at me!'”

“I love performing outside because it's as if the heavens are open and the elements become part of the stage show as well - you know, the wind and the rain and the thunder. It's almost as if there's a sense of invocation in performance.”

“For someone so conflicted, who am I to give advice to anybody? It’s such a funny, grandiose idea”

“I'd experimented with so many different types of music. I had these folky songs I'd written and recorded, but something wasn't quite right.”

“I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought 'Okay, I'll be Florence Robot/Isa Machine', before realising that name was so long it'd drive me mad.”

“I think an encore is perfectly acceptable, but I find it so weird when people do two or three.”

“I've just never been a tracksuit-wearer.”

“Growing up, I always wanted to be in punk bands, so I'm really enjoying the harder, heavier element. It's always been my dream to have people moshing at my gig, kind of that really feral element of the music coming out more. I love crowd-surfing.”

“You should have high expectations for yourself and others should come second.”

“When you play, it's like you know that there are people out there who are hearing it for the first time, and I think that's really important.”

“I'm one of those people that is up for most things. When I was offered to sing at the Oscars I was like, 'Yeah, I want to know what that's like!' I'm always curious to know what things are like - as long as you're not compromising who you are.”