I think growing up the way I did has made me a lot more objective, and that's important in the process of writing and trying to look at subjective matter that way.

I think my real influences are out of my control, which are the things that entered my brain when I was a kid growing up.

Growing up, I never really felt like anything was my own. I moved a lot, and I never belonged anywhere.

On one hand, I think it's very important to talk about race and talk about gender, because if it's not talked about, then we won't progress. What I have a problem with is when it becomes another form of tokenization, of shrinking me into a symbol instead of a multilayered, female Asian artist.

I believe in dreams. Being a Merlin, I also believe in magic; the kind of magic that begins when someone who cares reaches out for a child.

I just want to keep going for broke, making bigger and bigger things like 'Lord of the Rings' until they kick me out of Hollywood. I just want to do the biggest thing I can.

The Blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.

The biggest bit of advice that I've ever received, and something that I've seen and experienced, is that, 'You can fail, and that's OK - just keep going.'