I've had to come through a lot and I've made a lot of different mistakes, but I realized that I never gave up. I wanted to so badly.

It's easy to just give everything up, but it takes a lot of strength and a lot of willpower to just make yourself stay on it and get up and do something different. And I had to do that.

All I could think about was, 'I just wanna blow him away. I wanna make him proud, because I really wanna sign with Timbaland and spend the rest of my career making music with Tim.'

I've had to come through a lot and I've made a lot of different mistakes, but I realized that I never gave up. I wanted to so badly.

I've figured out the secret. Your mind is your power; you have to work with your mind and work with your own thoughts about your own life. If you spend so much time thinking, "This industry is male-dominated. It's sexist. It's this. It's that," then that's what the picture will always be. I remember when I was coming up, I didn't have those thoughts. My mom told me I could be whatever I wanted to be and I could be as bright of a star as I was meant to be. So, that's where I put all of my focus and my thought...into what I could do. And I carry that with me now.

I think it's really finding that belief in yourself, where you just have it no matter what's going on, no matter what anyone else says. I think that's the challenge, is to really have that belief in yourself.

I just feel my sexuality is private. I'm very shy about being sexy. That part of me has been so closed to the public eye. I've sold millions of records with my clothes on.