The question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Amy Winehouse. I love everything about her and her music. It was honest and so wise in a way. I hope to emulate the way she captivated people. Someone like Ed Sheeran, too, because he can also leave an audience in awe with no help. That’s something to admire.
Jenny Bahn, Office Magazine source ↗
Just normal people from my hometown, from my country.
The pope. I was brought up in the Catholic religion, and I think he is trying to make the church more accepting of all. He’s got a very hard job because the church is very stuck in its rightwing conservative ways.
The Queen, because she's kept hats alive in the imagination of people all over the world.
Lemn Sissay. What happened to him and what he’s done with his life is extraordinary.
I think now, especially with Love & Hyperbole, I was like, let me just write the best thing that I can make for myself. Totally intuitively.
This is something I still have to learn and figure out because I'm not perfect at it yet — but I've learned that just even something as simple as breathing properly can be a really nice form of meditation. Also talking to people about it. I started going to therapy, which has been really helpful just to get it out. Of course for me as a songwriter, writing helps. So does taking things a day at a time and stopping to just breathe because I'm a person who really thinks so far in advance all the time.
People think that to be a pop star you have to look a certain way. I want to show people that there’s an alternative.
It was very challenging at first, as I came straight out of high school where my lifestyle was so different to that of a professional musician. I lived such a secluded life – I went from school to home, school to home, and never travelled anywhere. I hadn’t figured out who I was, as I hadn’t explored anything yet. To jump into the completely opposite lifestyle so quickly and so young was difficult – I was very afraid, and didn’t know how to say no.
If you're not taking care of yourself, it's almost impossible to try to help others take care of themselves.
To just chill out and not worry. Growing up, I worried about every little thing. I was like, "oh I'm not good enough, I'm not confident enough, I'm not pretty enough, I'm not this and that." I would cry about my appearance, and cry about a bunch of things that don't matter to me now. I would just say, the stuff that matters now won’t matter in a few years, and just chill out and enjoy your life.
Laura Mvula, Björn Ulvaeus, Neneh Cherry, Martin Kemp, Billy Ocean, Kate Nash
Search the directory for somebody in particular.