The Big Machine Label Group will continue to knock down doors to break female talent.

When we signed Taylor Swift, people said, 'You're signing a 15-year-old female country artist? Good luck!'

I don't want to worry about someone calling me and going, 'You better find a way to get another Taylor Swift record out this quarter.' When there's that kind of financial pressure dictating your path, it's hard to take creative risks.

Winning 'American Idol' really anoints you the opportunity to have a great career; it does not anoint you a career.

Anytime you introduce volatility, it is not good for business and not good for travel.

The reason why bookstores are going out of business in the States is that people just can't focus on longer narratives now - even narrative film is in crisis in many ways, unless it's an adventure film.

I love to prune my roses. That's the one thing I really feel I do pretty well. Other things I usually, because I travel so much, leave to my gardeners who know what I love. But I do love to prune them, because you forget everything else. It's like if you're a painter, you can forget everything else while you're doing it.

Anything new is a sort of adventure - as a child, I think I was quite bad at tackling new experiences, like unusual foods, and I hated new clothes or having my hair cut.