It seems women are expected to be so much more than men, which means we have to work that much harder. We're the ones under the microscope. We're expected to sound perfect. We're expected to look perfect all the time. We're expected to be style-setters, whereas the boys roll onto the stage in their jeans, T-shirts and baseball caps.

I consider myself not a celebrity. I'm a normal person that likes [doing] things on stage.

Everything's completely different, and it's been hard. Fortunately, I have a lot of wonderful people around me, and I think I'm handling things pretty well.

I'm not the person in person that I am on stage.

The more boys I meet the more I love my dog.

I want people to think of me as a nice person. I really am so blessed. All of this has been a great experience and I thank the American public so much for putting me in this position. I appreciate every second of it.

We see new male artists have their first single reach No. 1 on the charts, but it generally takes a female a lot longer to build momentum.