Quotes from Shura

I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me.

'Nothing's Real' is about my first-ever panic attack, which I had about four months after getting my record deal.

It is important that you're out, and it is important that you're visible.

I'm not one of those artists that can go away for six months and tour America and have 20 producers back in London or L.A. doing everything for me and I just come home and sing on it. It would be really useful, in terms of speed, to work like that. I just wouldn't find it creatively satisfying. I have to have my hand on the remote control.

Being part of a crowd and not standing out is way more frightening than being the person that stands out.

I love PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Pixies, Portishead, and Massive Attack: a lot of what I would describe as alternative and indie music.

I'm massively inspired by Janet Jackson, and I adore Whitney Houston and Madonna.

Sometimes we feel like we're only interacting with what's already happening; we don't actually affect anything - sometimes I feel like that, anyway.

I'm really freaked out by time. How, for instance, what I did last week is not real in the sense that it's happened. It's just a memory that's filed away in my brain.

I'm massively inspired by 'True Blue'-era Madonna, but she is absolutely confident and in control of the situation.

On one level, I am a massive joker and can't take anything seriously, but on the other hand, I'm incredibly serious and a deep thinker, so I have that dichotomy within me.

If you told teenage me that I would end up supporting Tegan and Sara for a month in North America, my head would have probably exploded.