Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
Writing a song is a personal thing, and you have to have a lot of trust to try things and not be embarrassed.
When I'm writing a song, things are always popping into my head, it's not so direct. It feels more like I'm in a room and there's this whole big jumble of clothes on the floor and it's like choosing what to wear. There are a lot of different things in there and you kind of pull something out and think, "No, that's not right," or you're like, "Yes I'll put this on with this. "
I source images and ideas from different parts of my experiences, and sometimes they are things that are made-up, or just appear out of nowhere, like out of a dream or an image that I've seen in a book, or even the title of a book that I'm staring at on a shelf. It's a good way to write songs, just stare at a bookshelf!
When you watch your mum and dad sing and they're happy and it brings them joy, it is then a natural choice to go where the joy is. Music was always that place in our family.
It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.
Usually the male control and domination that tends to be in our genes gets around a powerful woman who has the ability to make choices different from guys, it throws you off and you get frustrated.
I always thought I was good. That's why it was so frustrating when other people didn't agree.
I'm not really all that familiar with comic book culture.