I was one of the serious studiers. I'm not somebody who just shows up and gets a hundred on a test.

As I've gotten old I've really listened to a wide spectrum of music, whether it's The Carpenters, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z or Lauryn Hill. I've kinda' run the gamut, and in listening to so many different styles, you come to take bits and pieces from all of it.

When I was a kid, I always envisioned myself as performing, as being in that business. It was all that I knew, so it's kind of like I'm just following in the family tradition.

I was one of the serious studiers. I'm not somebody who just shows up and gets a hundred on a test.

We live in a melting pot. More and more, people are some kind of mixture. Even if you're Caucasian, you're a mixture of something.

You pick pieces of things you've experienced in life to make it real to yourself.

I always considered myself bi-racial, because I didn't want to disconnect from either side, and I felt very strongly about that. Now, I understand that the world sees me as a black woman, a person of color, and I'm okay with that.