My Secret Life: VV Brown, singer, 25

(Lorenzo Agius)

My parents were ... business savvy, passionate, eccentric and loving. For 26 years they've owned and run a private school in Northamptonshire.

The home I grew up in ... was an extremely opulent, six-bedroom manor house in the countryside with a swimming pool, swings and a tree-house. I lived with my parents, three brothers and two sisters.

When I was a child I wanted to be ... a composer of grand symphonies for films.

If I could change one thing about myself ... I would stop thinking so much and live in the now rather than in the future.

You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at ... cooking.

You may not know it but I'm no good at ... not speaking my mind, no matter how controversial. It gets me in trouble.

At night I dream of ... I generally have really deep sleeps. When I do dream, it means I have a lot of anxiety.

What I see when I look in the mirror ... is a young woman striving to fulfil her potential and trying to work out who she really is.

My favourite item of clothing ... is my orthodox Jew hat. I'm an adopted Jew.

I wish I'd never worn ... a ridiculously small sample-size purple caped dress, which I tried to squeeze my size 10 body into for the 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' premiere. It suffocated me and I had to take it off in the cab on the way home. Hell on earth.

It's not fashionable but I like ... watching 'SpongeBob SquarePants' in the morning.

My house is ... a beautiful Victorian cottage in west London with a garden at the front and back, a red door and a pear tree. It's so cute; when I first saw it I was like: "Oh my God, I've got to live there!"

I ride ... a Vespa.

My favourite buildings are ... the pyramids. They have been there for thousands of years yet still no one knows how they were made.

My favourite work of art ... I love Banksy and Jackson Pollock but Leonardo da Vinci's my hero, so I'd choose the 'Last Supper'.

A book that changed me ... was and is the Bible. I read it a lot, alongside the Torah and the Qur'an; every day its meaning changes, something else jumps out and hits me.

Movie heaven ... is chick flicks.

The last album I bought/downloaded ... 'Machine Dreams' by Little Dragon.

My secret crush ... is Jeff Goldblum. He has a strange sexiness; I like his awkward stuttering. There's nothing worse than a handsome, predictable hunk.

My greatest regret ... I never regret anything in life. Every single thing I have done has made me the person I am today.

My real-life villain ... If I told you that then my career might end. Let's just say a certain bureaucracy that will remain nameless for the moment.

The last time I cried ... was last night, with my boyfriend, out of happiness. We were on a date, staying in a suite at a hotel in London.

My five-year plan ... I am a compulsive planner. In five years, I'll have hit America and increased my fan base. I'll marry towards my thirties, set up a film/music company, have some kids, buy a house and quit the pop industry. Then I'll spend my time having sex on my mixing desk and growing vegetables.

What's the point ... Patience, balance and living in the moment – because you never quite know when you're going to die.

My life in six words ... a rollercoaster ride of euphoric contradictions.

A life in brief

VV Brown was born on 24 October 1983 in Northamptonshire. Since being named 'one to watch' in this magazine's Talent Issue back in January, Brown has released her debut album, 'Travelling Like the Light', to much critical acclaim. She lives with her two sisters in west London, and performs alongside Dizzee Rascal and others on the War Child charity single 'I Got Soul, But I'm Not a Soldier', released 19 October