It's tragic that you can define a whole movement in music by gender alone. People are like, 'Oh, look, another quirky girl.'

You know, my mum's always encouraged me and never made my gender an issue, I guess. She brought me up to believe in equality, as opposed to feminism or sexism - so it just meant that my gender was not relevant to what I was capable of achieving.

I'm not a downtrodden woman. I just won't be.

When you research prolific songwriters, it is usually later in their career they write songs that they distance themselves from, or it's about other people.

In America we tell our parents to bring their child home and put him or her in a crib; as they get older, children sleep in they own room not in Mom and Dad's room. What are we training them for? It's independence, because that's what being empowered is all about.

I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.

I had unusual parents. We'd been to Europe. We'd been in the theater. We were sort of like the Addams Family.

I ask only child-free pals for parenting advice because they're the only ones sane and well-rested enough to have any real insight.