Charli XCX

Pop music is getting so emo. It's great. Emotional girl for life. I see myself in the centre of that.

Anyone that thinks 'pop' is a dirty word is living in the '90s.

In the same way that musicians inspire me, artists and photographers like David LaChapelle influence me with their visuals. A photographer like LaChapelle creates an entirely new and unique visual for their work, and that's what I'd like to do with the Charli XCX world as well.

I want my music, whether it's sung by other people or sung by myself, to affect the way the Top 40 radio sounds. I want to heavily influence it with things that have come directly from my brain.

I had this dream to be a rapper when I was younger.

I count myself as not only just an artist, not only as a singer, but a business woman. I write my own songs; I write my own video treatments, manage other artists. I write for other artists; it's not just about getting on stage and singing a song.

I want to have a publishing company and a record label, and I want to manage five artists... eventually.

Just be funny. Funny always goes over well, so try to think of something funny to break the ice rather than being weird or using pickup lines.

To me, 'X Factor' is like Vegas. Fake, twisted, but kind of wonderful. Maybe I'm sick, but I find the whole thing quite funny sometimes.

To be honest, for me, my main workout is when I'm on stage. Even though I make pop music, I don't think I perform in the classic 'pop star' sort of way. I'm very active on stage; I always end up dripping in sweat afterwards. It's always like a full-on, wild performance, so that's pretty much like my exercise, I would say.

I've wanted to write good pop music, beautiful pop music - not just throwaways. I've always wanted to make it sound luscious and beautiful and cinematic.

I feel like the U.K. is a better breeding ground for pop, partially because the radio play is more broad and open to new ideas and sounds.