COVER STORY: FLORENCE WELCH

Florence Welch is one of the most enigmatic women in music. She has traveled the world, sung at the Oscars... and sleeps on a mattress on the floor of her mom's house. We're obsessed, and judging by your flood of "please, let Florence be on the cover!" emails, you are too. Below, a sample of new info to feed your Florence fix.

On Her Emotional Connection to Music:
It's funny because I'm not actually very good at saying how I feel in person. I think songwriting is a way for me to deal with my own emotional failings in life. When I'm making a song, it's almost as if I can express how I feel. It's almost as if, to get a message across to one person, you have to sing it to a couple of thousand.

On her first European tour, with MGMT:
We were desperate to do it, but obviously had no money. But my dad said he'd take us around in his camper van... so [the band] and my dad chugged around Europe for a month. We'd get to these tiny European towns and just look for the biggest thing there, which was always MGMT's tour bus. That's how we found the venue. They must have thought we were insane, turning up with pots and pans rattling, hanging out the window like "Hellooo."

On childhood aspirations:
I wanted to be a witch when i was a kid. I was obsessed with witchcraft. At school, me and my friends had these spell books: I always wanted a more magical reality. I had a shrine at home and I did a spell to try and make the boy in the other class fall in love with me."

Get the full story, and tons of Florence photos, in the new NYLON Music Issue!