BORNS

I've gotten to play some cool venues, like at an aquarium in La Jolla, California.

I really like intimate venues because it feels like everyone in the audience is in on all our inside jokes.

I always like surprising people and doing things at a young age and, I don't know, trying to do them at a higher caliber than what you'd normally think. I'm not saying I'm a virtuoso, but I always challenge myself.

I'm a professional musician.

I have a few friends who are amazing stylists, so I owe them a lot.

Most of the time, it's pretending I'm somebody else to get into a different head space. A lot of times, it's just, 'Who do I want to be onstage tonight? Is it going to be Marc Bolan, or is it going to be Grace Jones, or Roy Orbison?'

I look at performance clothes as setting the mood for the whole show.

A lot of people think I'm a chick. It happens the most at airports. The flight attendants will always say, 'Have a nice flight, Ms. Borns.' It must be the hair.

It's all about the art, really, at the end of the day.

I like to put coconut oil in my hair if it's looking dry. It's so unruly. It has a mind of its own.

I'm influenced by a lot of different genres of music. So I'm constantly trying to rework production and make things interesting in the live show and on records.

That's one thing I really wanted to work on after 'Dopamine,' my falsetto.

I guess that's always the mystery of music. It's like why does this song make me feel so grey or why does it make me feel sad or happy or nostalgic and so I'm most fascinated by breaking that down in my music.

I feel very short-attention span for like accomplishment. It's like 'oh that felt really good' and then it's kind of like an immediate emptiness of I need to make something else - I don't like to dwell on things too long.

A magic show and a concert are very similar in the way I like keeping things a mystery and not doing them the same way every time. The listener and the audience never know what's going to happen next.

My vocal influences are a lot of jazz singers: Billie Holiday, Julie London, they had this tenderness to their voice.

I'm not growing out my hair just to be androgynous.

I always go thrift shopping wherever I am.

When I was growing up, there were a few musicians who would have regular gigs at restaurants, and I always thought it was so cool and unexpected how they would spontaneously perform. Being the ambitious kid that I was, I got into it and really studied it. I was so inspired by it.

A big piece of my heart is definitely in Michigan and will always be in Michigan. Growing up there is definitely a big part of who I am as a person.

A lot of people hear things on the radio and try to make their own version of that.

I don't really know what emotions are going to come out in songs when I'm writing them until I step back and listen to them as a whole.

I just love catchy melodies.

When you listen to music, you can tell if it's a real love song or not.

I have the luxury of having the choice to perform and go up on stage every night.