Rachel Platten

I wrote 'Fight Song' as this declaration to believe in myself, and that is similar to what you are taught to believe in Girl Scouts. Building confidence. Building character. And above all else, being there for each other as a community.

I love playing sports. I'm overly eager and aggressive and not very skilled, so it leads to many small injuries.

I can beatbox. Well, sort of. I have one beat that I can do, but people get fooled.

I'm so grateful that anyone has connected with my songs, let alone millions of people.

Though I played classical piano since age 5 and sang in a cappella groups, being an artist didn't seem like something I was talented enough to do full time. So I kind of buried that dream.

I think I made this decision that I just loved making music, and it didn't matter what level I got to do it on, and 'Fight Song' was this declaration that I'm going to keep going, and I'm going to keep believing in myself, even if it seems like it's impossible.

I used to imagine working as a White House staffer some day, so it was pretty amazing to be there... realizing another dream.

I was a political science major in college and dreamed of being a diplomat.

I love helping friends, and I like to think I am a good listener and supportive. I'm also just kind of nosy, so it would satisfy my need to know other people's stories.

I work extremely hard to stay positive and happy. But I get sad and anxious, too, just like everyone.

There are a lot of people who give you the message that maybe you are not good enough, and the best thing you can do for yourself is to block out all of that noise.

I love... different kinds of music. I like classical music and pop music. I like alternative, and I like rap, hip-hop, and I kind of collected all these things that I love, and they infused my sensibilities, and I just wanted to sing because it felt like it needed to come out of me.

Wherever I go, people are so kind and so lovely and so warm and show their best self. So I feel very lucky.

My biggest fear is that I'm not good enough. I have this voice in my head that I've been battling for years that says, 'You're not really talented enough. You don't really deserve this.'

I played piano growing up. I played classical piano since I was 5, and I sang in choirs, and I sang in plays and musicals.

I think my best friend is dry shampoo and dry texturizer spray.

I've always sung in choirs and acapella groups, but when I was in college, I finally started writing songs and playing with a band, and that ignited a desire to do it full time and pour everything I had into it.

I want to continue to remain present and grateful each day that I get to be doing what I love. Making and performing music I believe in.

I like to be supportive and a role model.

Even if the songs are at times painful - 'cause some of the songs are not all roses and balloons; some of them dig into deep things that I've been going through - there's a joy that I think people feel from my music and, hopefully, from my performance because I am so in love with doing what I do.

I think what people respond to, and what they're responding to so strongly, is I'm very myself on stage. What you see in person is very much who I am on stage.

There's a joy I think people feel from... my performance.

Music truly heals, and I am so grateful to have learned that through Musicians on Call.

I have volunteered for Musicians on Call for the past 12 years because of the incredible one-on-one experiences in hospital rooms when no one other than the patient and I would remember the love that was exchanged.

I refuse to dress 'hot' for Halloween, 'cause I always have to have makeup and hair and look cute for my job. So on Halloween, I either go gory or weird or funny.

I get really excited about other female acts. I feel inspired when I see another women succeeding in music because it makes me realize that if they can do it, I can do it.

I like structure, cool, hip songs, and fun, hooky music.

I have always loved music. My mom used to sing with my sister and I when I was younger, and I was in choirs and loved to perform, but when I was in college, I went on a study abroad to Trinidad, and while I was there, I sang backup at my first concert.

Lyrics are very important to me. I like speaking to women and saying what I mean.

I'm a fighter, and I don't take no for an answer.

I didn't grow up with musical influences in my family.

I wish I'd gone to music school or just started playing in bands sooner.

I'm a closet outdoorsy athletic enthusiast, and I would love to do a rafting and hiking trip someday and maybe sleep in a treehouse and bathe in a chilly winding river.

The adventurer in me would love to visit Patagonia, Chile.

Food-wise, oh man, I tend to really indulge on vacation because a lot of my friends are incredible chefs. One friend makes an eggplant parmesan that is heavenly and melts in your mouth, and another makes a chocolate pudding that I can't resist.

I'd faced a lot of rejection from labels and the industry, and it was getting hard to keep believing in myself. But something wouldn't let me - inside - I had this voice that was relentlessly hopeful, and honestly, I just loved performing and writing too much to ever really quit.

I played cover gigs and traveled the country in my mom's old car, and my drummer and I set up a fake email and sent it out to agents. We pretended to be our own agent.

When I got on stage, I felt this bolt of electricity hit me, and it was this shock of, 'This is exactly what I'm supposed to do with my life.'

I had my first concert in front of 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch Finals.

When I wrote 'Fight Song,' I was in a particular low point. I needed to remind myself to not give up, that I still believed in myself and that I still had fight left.

I feel like I have some stuff that matches 'Fight Song,' not in necessarily the message exactly but in the emotion and honesty.

I wrote my first song when I was six or seven, a silly little song. But I used to write poems in high school - not songs.

It didn't scare me to be vulnerable because I think that's when you get something great.

I used to feel it was too late for me; I'd had my shot. You couldn't make a pop star out of me.

Andy Grammer is probably the closest friend I have in the music industry, so touring with him was just incredible. He's such a soulful, kind guy, and he gives great advice. And he also scares me a lot. He does a lot of pranks.

I'm one of those people at the airport holding a pillow like a little kid.

I learned a lot from playing those late-night, 1-to-4 A.M. gigs with my band, and playing when no one was listening.

Even if I'm making music for people for $20 a night, at least I'm making music.

It used to break my heart that I didn't get to start in varsity soccer!

I learned that I truly am a fighter and that I cannot give up.