I can do what I want to do, lucky me. But when these people are coming at me and asking these things, they don't really care about me. And I have felt like there were all these people who just wanted to use me.

I dream about speaking in big forums about issues that need to be spoken about. I dream about helping others who I know and love, helping them realize their dreams. I dream about being able to express myself through acting and writing, definitely. I dream about bringing more realism into the world. Sometimes I just feel like certain things are so glossed over and covered up and swept under the rug and I just want to bring them out.

I am able to hang with the hardest, the baddest, the worst, and I'm able to hang with the most proper and be at ease. I'm able to hang with any skin colour, any belief. I just fit in everywhere.

How terrible would it have been if I had come out with some watered-down version of who I am? People fell in love with the real me, and I still feel blessed that that was how the journey began.

Listening to great music and art inspires me and recharges me.

When I perform in front of large audiences, I'm much more comfortable, because I've already performed in front of tiny audiences - which is much harder, honestly. The smaller you strip things down, the more you depend on the songs and yourself, as opposed to arrangements.

Right now the way I define beauty is individuality and wisdom, which I think creates a certain inner confidence. And not confidence in a way that's only on the surface, but a deep-down knowing of yourself or settling into who you are.