Shura

If you told teenage me that I would end up supporting Tegan and Sara for a month in North America, my head would have probably exploded.

A lot of people start by learning other people's songs, but the idea of singing someone else's music didn't excite me. I just wanted to write my own. It was really bad to begin with. It's improved slightly since.

When I wasn't working, I was learning how to use production software on YouTube and making music.

I didn't really want anyone to know that I wanted to write music or make songs because, in a way, I didn't necessarily know if I wanted to do it for a profession. I wanted to do it to express myself.

I got this advice that if you know a panic attack is happening, just sit back and go, 'Okay, this is happening to me, but it'll be over. You'll be fine. You'll live.'

What's It Gonna Be?' is about having a massive crush on someone, so it made sense to go back where - to school, where it all began. But it was important for us to explore those archetypal characters - The Jock, The Nerd, The Dork, The Popular Kid - and then flip expectations.

You have to challenge yourself about the choices you make as an artist.

I want to explore my boundaries. I want to push myself and go right to the edge of what I am capable of. I don't want to ever be comfortable.

There are two ways of dealing with being odd. One is to really try and conform, and the other is to do the opposite and really make a thing out of it. At school, it wasn't that I was bullied, but everyone was very aware that I was different. I was kind of the token weird person that people accepted into their group, almost like an accessory.

When you have a lot of gay friends, you don't think of that as being different or divisive or weird; that's just your reality.

I think it's much harder now with the Internet to hone anything. It's easy to share things: you do one track, and it goes on Hype Machine; people are being exposed a lot earlier.

In London, I used to play 'Boys of Summer,' but it didn't feel right, because it doesn't apply to your surroundings, to the weather. I remember being in L.A. and listening to that record and going, 'Oh, I get it now.'