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Miami is just really fun whenever I go there. It's like this post-apocalyptic Barbie world: everything is pink, and there're palm trees everywhere. But then there are also all these people in crazy sunglasses, warehouses with sick parties where all the girls are covered in spikes and black leather. It's a very weird place.

I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba - Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.

I was actually born in Miami. We would spend the summers there growing up, so it's like my second home.

It seems that half the point of being in Miami Beach - particularly the northern end of South Beach - is to be observed by people-watchers like me, and the display along Ocean Drive during my visit was, as always, sublime.

I love Miami; I miss it so much. I miss the beach, the peace it brings you. I love the sound and smell of the sea.

Miami Beach - that's where I grew up, in a middle-class Jewish family led by my maternal grandfather. Me, my great-grandmother - a Holocaust survivor, who was my roommate - my grandparents, my mom and her brother all shared a four-bedroom house.

I had learned something of Miami from people who had visited there, so I knew what to expect.

What's special about Miami is the collision of cultures. And the white sand beaches and fantastic restaurants.

Miami is a really special place for me, particularly in the U.S. It was one of the first places in the country to really embrace dance music, and I've been going there for many, many years.