Gabrielle Aplin

For a lot of pop performers, fame and celebrity is part of the job. But for singer-songwriters, no one really cares.

YouTube was really good for building a kind of core, loyal fanbase. I didn't want to be a YouTube artist as such. I mean, there are people who are able to release albums and live off YouTube, but I felt - and not in an arrogant way - that I could be commercial and credible if I really put my mind to it.

Labels fund things and have resources for you to use. But just because you sign doesn't mean you sign yourself away so they can then tell you what to do. You need to have a plan yourself before they do.

I'm really busy, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

I wouldn't just lay my voice on anything. But I'd love to do a collaboration, like a Calvin Harris track, for example.

I'd love to write for One Direction. I think they've done incredibly well.

I still listen to a lot of the classics from Bob Dylan and John Martin, but I love electronic music as well. I'm a big fan of an Australian DJ and producer called Flume, who I think is incredible. He should be more successful in the U.K.!

I love pop music. I love drum and bass, Calvin Harris, all these electronic things, but it's nice to have something organic as well.

I wrote poetry before I wrote songs, and T.S. Eliot was my inspiration. I love his honesty and try to bring that to my own songwriting.

My parents are music fans, even though neither of them play an instrument. I was exposed to their record collection, so I love everything from Joni Mitchell to Bruce Springsteen.

I love the folk-rock of the Seventies and the pop of the Eighties.

I still love records, and I've been fortunate that my parents bought me a record player so I didn't just have my vinyls to stare at!