Katie Melua

And I've teamed up with a choir from home. They're called the Gori Women's Choir. They're a 23-piece all-female choir, and they've been going since the '70s.

I love the French philosophy that everything starts with great-looking skin.

I did go through a phase of reading a lot of poetry and getting heavily into philosophy and ended up writing things that weren't really in a musical format, which I put to some very electronic-based backing.

I think singing is such an important and incredible art form and it is quite undervalued at times.

Most people in Georgia have a place in the hills for when it gets too hot in the city. We have good friends who own a place by a beautiful little river and the houses are full of hammocks.

I mean Georgia, and also Belfast, aren't the most stable places, politically, in the world. But the thing is, in both places, the people were just so kind and so warm and in Belfast so welcoming.

I grew up in Georgia where my parents, little brother Zurab and I shared a flat with my paternal grandparents and two uncles in the capital, Tbilisi. Times were hard and the country was racked by civil war.

The Russians invaded Georgia in 2008 and my mum got stuck and had to be airlifted back to the capital by the UN because she'd left her passport at my grandparents. It was absolutely terrifying and it's why I always carry my passport in my handbag now.

But I'll never forget my trip to Las Vegas. I'm a huge rollercoaster fan and we did the one at the Stratosphere, which curls around the hotel, and there's one that dips out from the roof then comes back in. That was intense.

When I do my own makeup, I limit my options: I have one Mac eye colour, a neutral shade with a bit of shimmer, plus eyeliner and subtle mascara. I wear a little foundation and put Laura Mercier concealer around my nose, underneath my eyes and on any dark spots.

I do tend to drape my real feelings with pretty words and different layers and stuff.

At 19 I was lucky enough to start making money from my music career, and when I was in my early twenties I trusted financial experts and advisers to guide me with how I invested money.