Fiona Apple

I was so self-critical. I still am, but it's not as bad anymore.

I know what my job is: I write the songs, I sing them, I play them on the piano.

I was never somebody who grew up going, 'I really want to be a singer in a band,' and I never had any ambition toward anything, really.

I'm incredibly impressed by people who organize to achieve a goal, and believe that they can make a difference and then go ahead and do just that. I think it's incredible.

Sometimes interviews are fun and good conversations, but stuff like photo shoots and appearances at places where you have to meet a lot of people - I was never really made for this kind of stuff.

Five years from now I'm probably going to look back on the things I'm doing and cringe.

Hearing my songs in public freaks me out a bit. There was one restaurant I really liked in L.A., but I had to stop going there when they started playing my music. It felt kinda awkward.

When I was a kid - 10, 11, 12, 13 - the thing I wanted most in the world was a best friend. I wanted to be important to people; to have people that understood me. I wanted to just be close to somebody.

No, I've never wanted kids. But I do read about parenting a lot.

I never went to concerts when I was a kid, so I never knew if what I was doing onstage was right.

I used to get a shiver if I thought about holding balloons, because I was scared of floating away.

I'm not the Queen. I'm not a huge superstar; I don't get paparazzi around me.