Whether it's from the biggest, most powerful city, or from the dinkiest little podunk town, there is a certain attachment and connection, and yes, pride about where you came from.
I think that I have grown a lot as an artist. I have been writing about my experiences of love and overcoming the struggles that I have faced in the music industry. I have so much more to tell my fans, and I know so much more about myself. It is crazy how much I have grown over these past years.
So many affluent men are faced with finding love problems. I'm sure beautiful, affluent women are faced with the same things sometimes.
There have been struggles and challenges that I have faced that few know about but I hope will help others going through the same thing.
I don't want to disregard any of the struggles others faced, but mine were different. I also gave auditions that never materialised not necessarily because I'm an outsider, but things didn't work out at many levels.
I love playing roles that are physical, absolutely love. Whether it's just that kind of basic level of physicality or whether it's stunts.
As young girls we grow up with the idea that life is going to be a bit of a fairytale. But at some point reality hits and we realise that's not what life is about. Many of us are faced with eating disorders and mental health struggles, bad relationships and heartbreak, low self-esteem and confused sexualities and more. Life is very much real.
I'm absolutely looking at my career differently, but it's still really important to some sense of connection to where I came from, which is this DIY, queer work ethic and sensibility.
Everybody struggles to find a balance between their personal lives and their professional lives, and in some cases, their connection with the community. So what I've looked to do over the years is marry as many of those as I can.
I really love the independent movies and I just think that sometimes when they throw a lot of money into it and a lot of special effects and a lot of stunts that you lose the connection, the human connection and I personally love movies that are about the human connection.
I don't know that I would have the courage to come over to a new country where the religion is different, the language is different, where I don't have any money. The thought of starting over like that in the way that many refugee families have to start all over again - that's an incredible thing to think about. One of the things I tell about Refugee is that unless you're Native American or a descendant of slaves, your family immigrated to this country - whether they came over on the Mayflower or whether they came over on a raft last year.
That's what I love about music. It's immediate. There's a connection whether you are playing at Hyde Park or Chicago, and it's been happening since the beginning of time and the troubadours.
I've definitely seen the rise of more charities and Mental Health Awareness Week, and people in general seem a lot more open about struggles that they've faced.
Love songs in particular are so compelling because love is probably the strongest emotion you can have, and I think it's relatable to absolutely everyone, whether it's unrequited love or love.
It seems to me that we make a terrible mistake in talking about Trump as some kind of essence of evil. Trump is symptomatic of something much deeper in the culture, whether we're talking about the militarization of everyday life, whether we're talking about the criminalization of social problems, or whether we're talking about the way in which money has absolutely corrupted politics. This is a country that is sliding into authoritarianism.
Everyone who comes to my show has their own struggles. There's so many people dealing with so many things; I love that I get to be part of their healing process by making them laugh.