Laura Mvula Quotes

I wanted to be a singer forever. But it's not really my cup of tea. Having the whole world know who you are.

If you think about it, I was at college, and then three months later, I was a massive pop star. It's stress-making, especially when you're a bit of an oddball as I was, the black sheep left to your own devices, and then suddenly everyone's interested in you.

The public scrutiny element they don't teach you in film school. So few people are ever subjected to it.

I must say, I don't feel very qualified to be a pop star. I feel very awkward at times in the role.

Early in my life, without any supporting evidence, I fretted over what I believed was my fate: accidentally becoming an international pop star. The pages of my diary were filled with hypothetical ethical dilemmas.

Being in a boy band, everyone has an opinion of all of us and what we do. There was a time I fought with that.

I am not this big celebrity, but it gets really crazy. You have to go through the nuts of blowing up, in a sense, and then figuring out how to live your life with that.

I think after doing a few shows now, people are ready to put me down.

I can't believe we've got away with becoming this huge band. And we still haven't done anything I think is that good yet.

There are a lot of people who would laugh at the idea of me being a good singer.

Stage fright is not a thing about 'Am I any good?' It's about 'Am I gonna be good tonight?' It's a right-now thing. It helps me. If I went out there thinkin', 'Eh, we'll go slaughter 'em,' I'm positive something would go seriously wrong.

I had some issues. When I first had to deal with being in 'Star Wars,' you know, who wouldn't?

When you sit down and play your music for someone you respect, you get that feeling in your stomach of like: 'Oh my God...' You know if it's not great because you start to feel sick.

It will shock many - I've lived a full life and really enjoyed my time as a pop star.

As an actor, I've always said, half the audience is going to love you, half is going to hate you so just live with it. It's easier that way.

Because I've got an AFI award, I feel there is a certain expectation when I walk into a room, you know, that 'That Deb Mailman must know something!' But I'm just as nervous with every experience. I still doubt whether or not I can pull something off. I still think, 'When is the review going to come along that says Deb Mailman's not very good?'

When I was on stage with the Spice Girls, I thought people were there to see the other four and not me.

I came up in the theater, and I learned pretty quickly that reading a review, whether it's good or bad, can strangely affect the next performances, because you're reacting to something that's been said about you. So I tend to avoid that stuff pretty studiously.

We assume that celebrities have it easy and so love to watch them having to endure a bit of hardship.

In the end of the day, you are human. Film is a job which is not an individual job; you have tons and tons of people behind you - you have a whole crew of people working. But, an actor is the face of a film, so you get all of the good things, but you get the bad things, also.

Walking into a show when I was 16, at that time when it was the No. 1 hit show, and replacing a character comes with so many expectations. I felt a lot of pressure with that.

When you're part of a pop phenomenon, you have so many opinions shoved down your throat.

I was always used to being centre stage - something that had its good and bad points.

There's so much craziness that comes along with being a movie star that you can get so confused. Unless you've spent your whole life waiting to be the centre of attention, it's pretty terrifying.

I've got to be right on top of the action, or else all those people watching the game will say, 'This guy's not very good.'