Ella Henderson
As long as it's making you happy and you're enjoying it, then you should never stop writing music. Whether it's going to take you somewhere, viewed by other people, or it's literally you in a bedroom at home, it should be something that you do for yourself.Collection: Music
I love snow; I love building snowman. The only thing I don't like is the cold - so if we could have a hot Christmas, that would be amazing.Collection: Christmas
I like to say I believe in ghosts so I don't get haunted by one.
I just love mermaids. I was a mermaid in my past life. I just feel it when I go in the sea. I just feel a connection there between me, and the water, and the fish - they speak to me - and the shells - they ring out to me.
If I feel like I've completely drained every ounce of energy out of me for this song, and I can't go any further with it, then I stop, even if the song is unfinished. Most of the time, when it's finished, it's because I've used every ounce of me to write it.
My grandfather was a massive influence in my music. Growing up, he would play a lot of old-school records to me. A lot of jazz and swing music, actually, growing up.
I think I would fan over Beyonce or Adele. Those are my two girl idols, definitely.
If something makes me happy, I go with it. It's as simple as that.
It's amazing when I do a gig how many people of different ages come up to me afterwards and chat to me about songs. The emotions I feel are what any person can relate to. Sometimes I'm just a narrator.
I love hiking to the top of mountains in L.A. and seeing incredible landscapes. It really inspires me.
I'm not a fussy eater, but when I'm travelling, I try to stick to the same regime and just have my chicken and my mash and broccoli. Otherwise, you start eating all these funny delicacies, and it makes your tummy turn upside down.
I never thought I'd go on a show like 'The X Factor,' simply because I didn't have enough confidence to do something like standing on a stage to have opinions thrown at me.
Dressing up and doing photo shoots was a side of the industry I really didn't think I would like. But now I've got a glam squad; I love trying on new outfits and experimenting with different looks.
At 16, I would wear clothes that hid my body; now I've found clothes that fit me rather than cover me. I'm not skinny, but I'm healthy, and you have to embrace what you've been given.
When I am having my picture taken, I channel Beyonce. In the studio, my inspiration is Adele.
I knew from the start that I wanted my life to be about music. I taught myself the notes of the piano aged three, and then I spent the next few years deconstructing chords to figure out how to play them. At 11, I researched online the sort of music school I wanted to attend, printed out the details, and handed them to my parents.
I always say that when it comes to picking a single, firstly you have to go with what feels right and what your gut tells you.
I have never been in a serious relationship and never had a break-up, so I can't tug on my heartstrings that way. But whenever I experience a strong emotion in life, I definitely have to throw myself into my songwriting. It is very therapeutic.
I look up to Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn and old styles. You will never see me in a crop top and hot pants - I'm more into dresses.
As long as I give the best performance I can give, I know I can't do any more.
There's always been a piano around the house, and I've grown up around it. It's a massive part of my life and always has been.
I don't see myself as a pop star, just a singer.
For me writing is that place where I can escape; it's where I let my thoughts run wild.
A fan sent me a pair of fluffy winter socks, and I was like, 'Oh, that's cool. I'll wear them to bed. It's cold; it's winter.' But they were worn. They were black underneath, and they stunk, and I hate feet. She was like, 'I'm giving you my favorite pair.'
I often do crazy siren noises, or, like, a high-pitched dolphin, just to make sure that all my range is there. I make random noise and blurt out random sounds, to make sure I get rid of any bad nerves. I want to make sure to feel as confident as possible.
It sounds a bit sad, but my new hobby is knitting. I love it. I find it really relaxing.
My plan was always to leave school and live in a flat with some friends, have a 9 to 5 job, and try to get as many gigs as I could. I wanted to keep writing and then eventually, in my twenties, head to a record label and hope they'd sit down and listen to my book of songs, sign me as a songwriter and maybe an artist in development.
Growing up, I listened and was influenced by a lot of those around me. I have a big family, and my dad listened to '80s music, my mom listened to Motown, my brother listened to reggae, and my granddad was the one that got me into jazz and swing music.
When I heard 'Back to Black' from Amy Winehouse, I was, like, 'Wow.' To hear such a soulful voice that feels like it's from a different era, I mean, it felt so fresh and unique, and that was something that opened my eyes and made me believe that it's not always about churning out the same thing in this industry.
Create a vision that makes you wanna jump out of bed in the morning.Collection: Inspirational
The simple questions are always the hardest ones.Collection: Simple
I just used to love the sound of especially a female vocal like Ella Fitzgerald for example, it's just that empowering self-control that can make a whole room go silent. I fell in love with that sound.Collection: Self
When I do my vocal warm-ups everyone calls me the dolphin because I do stupid siren noises.Collection: Stupid
I'm not very much an open book, I do really express myself only through my music and when I'm in that safe environment and I don't have to let anything go out of the studios that I don't want to go out.Collection: Book
I think there's thousands of good songs in the world - the songs that we can all sing along to, songs that are just so catchy they end up being in your head. But I think a great song is something that emotionally engages with you and connects with you.Collection: Song
I always feel like when I've listened to a great song I know it, 'cuz it's the only time I'll ever get goosebumps or something like that.Collection: Song
I think I was a mermaid and I used to swim the shores or Hawaii and used to pop up and see coconuts and pineapples everywhere.Collection: Thinking
I WAS a mermaid in my past-life! I definitely was. I don't know why I'm obsessed with them that much, which is why I think that somehow in my past-life I must have just lived underwater or something. Maybe I was a fish or a dolphin, but I do believe in mermaids.Collection: Believe
I think we've all got a mirror man in our life - male, female, it's someone who love themselves before they can love anyone else.Collection: Men
Most of the time I write my best songs just from feeling a strong emotion, so whether I'm just really angry or really sad or really happy, I immediately sit down at a piano and I begin writing a song.Collection: Song
I knew what I didn't want, and I knew whatever it was going to be it had to be believable and it had to come from me and I had to drive it. The way I write is very honest and when I think of the music that I listened to growing up, I loved it because I believed it.Collection: Growing Up
I had to introduce a lot of people into my writing environment which I thought at first I would find really difficult, but I actually found that I loved it. It meant that I was meeting different people; it meant that I was expressing myself in different ways.Collection: Writing
By the time I was ten or eleven, I had a song-book and I was writing everything down. It used to just be my hobby but now it's like my diary, it's where I can go in my own little bubble.Collection: Song
To do a world tour with my album, that would be really incredible. I love travelling, and I love travelling through my music.Collection: Albums
I just love making sounds. Anything that made a sound, as a kid I was just taken back by and would sit with it for ages and just try and make all different sounds on it.Collection: Taken
A piano in the house, when I came home from school and was able to play all these different notes with all theses different sounds, I really found that fascinating.Collection: Home
I was teaching myself notes from three and then by seven I'd figured out how to play some chords, and at school I used to love writing poems and poetry, so I guess I kind of put two and two together and that formed my songwriting from an early age.Collection: Teaching
Reggae music really chills me out in my dressing-room before I head on stage.Collection: Rooms
I love reggae music; reggae music's like my go-to.Collection: Reggae