JENNY LEWIS

I learn lessons with every interview I give.

In your mid-30s, you have to take inventory, or you'll stumble.

I think you kind of lose the human aspect when you make things too perfect.

It's interesting how songs can evolve. Sometimes I'll write a song that feels relevant in the moment, but four years later, I don't want to sing it anymore. Then something will happen in my life, and the song becomes relevant again.

I'm an American songwriter, and I write from a very American perspective, and so did the records I grew up listening to.

I would never say anything's over forever. How could you possibly know how you feel? How could you shut the door on anything?

I demo all of my songs on Garage Band, where I pretty much play everything - not very well, but I manage to hammer out a drum beat and a bass idea.

I think Chris Martin is younger than I am, but when I met him, I felt like I was talking to my father. It's so strange, that feeling when someone is that famous - you assume that they are either older or better.

You wouldn't want to be in a rock band - trust me.

I used to be a huge collector, and my big thing was stickers.

I am a child of digital generation. I have done most of the records with Rilo Kiley on computers, on Pro Tools or other digital programs.

When I was a teenager, I went to Europe on a backpacking trip by myself, and I met a woman who was following Sebadoh. It was the early 1990s, and that was my introduction to indie rock.

My favorite days off on the road are typically nowhere, like Bismarck, North Dakota, and you find yourself in a mall, and you're like, 'This is awesome!'

When I sit down to write a song, there is no filter. I'm not trying to write for anyone or anything specifically. It's just trying to capture a little piece of your soul - even if it's a really ugly part.

The best shows I play, I almost don't even remember off the stage.

It's pretty amazing to write under any circumstances when someone gives you an assignment to write a song, even if it doesn't get accepted. I've written songs a couple of times, some for Disney, that haven't actually ended up in their films, but then you're left with a song forever.

If I'm not crying while writing a song, I'm not doing it right.

I've always tried to get around writing love songs, I guess because I've always had a hard time saying, 'I love you.'

When you're in your mid-thirties, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, 'So when are you going to have a baby?'

I never envisioned myself as a solo artist; I was always part of a band.

When you're talking about your own music every day, listening to bands, going to festivals, you can kind of lose sight of your initial connection with music. Instrumental music - especially jazz - helps me refocus.

I think the idea of opening up for a massive band is always better than actually doing it, and having your name on the ticket means more than the actual set.

My mother's records were formative for me, but when I became a teenager, I wanted to find songs that she wasn't hip to. She was so hip, though, that I had to go outside rock n' roll - so for about 10 years, I only listened to hip-hop, house and techno.

My hair looks so good out in the desert, it's unbelievable. It's, like, perfectly not frizzy.

I was a big fan of 'Days of Our Lives' growing up.