Happy Birthday Brandi

Singer Brandi Carlile turned 31 yesterday and I hope she had a fantastic birthday. I really enjoy her music and she was asked recently if her sexuality plays a part in her songwriting and here is her response:

I don't consider myself a very androgynous person, but I think [people] can sense a certain dissent or a difference in gender roles. They can sense that I'm not singing or talking about things in a traditional way. As a songwriter, it's really important that that become a place for expression, because of what other songwriters did for me as a young gay teenager. Having those gender pronouns used in an ambiguous way made me feel like I could relate to songs that were sung by women or men. Those kinds of things being addressed creatively and politically made me feel like I could be successful and proud.