And I'm looking at him like, 'Oh my God. This is Michael Jackson'. I fainted, blacked out - like seriously blacked out.

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.

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 don't get into the favorite songs thing, because so many speak to different parts of my life, but the music in the '90s is just unbeatable.

In my life right now, in my music, and just overall I feel like I'm winning. It doesn't matter what this person is saying or what the charts are saying or what award shows are saying, the public opinion doesn't matter. I feel like I'm winning in my spirit.

I feel there's so much purpose that's left in me to share with people and I'm just ready to use my gift in the right way because I know I have a gift and it's unique and different than anybody else's. I'm supposed to do something with it and I'm happy that I know that now.

Music is infinite and personal. I don't want to put myself in a box. I want to try everything and I'm trying everything. I'm really trying to write what's in my heart and what I feel without a lot of help in that department. It's about being brave.