A lot of my friends do creative things and are doing really well at what they do - some writers, some artists. I'm in a driven circle. I've had a lot of opportunities that other people wouldn't necessarily have and seen some cool places.

I started writing my own things when I was about 8. I used to try to bully my friends into imitating the Spice Girls on the playground. Then I realized, Oh god, my career's going nowhere, so I looked in the Yellow Pages and phoned up the first cheap studio that I found and started recording.

When I first started, I wasn't really aware of anything in the industry or aware of who I really was. I just put my music out there and tried to get as many people to hear it as possible.

A lot of females are openly discussing their experiences as women in the music industry.

When I was younger, definitely getting people to listen to me and believe in me. I think it's hard when you're a young girl in a record label full of male urban artists, which is definitely what Atlantic Records was and still is. Also, getting people to trust a young, female pop star that doesn't just want to be puppeteered was definitely a challenge for me.

Everyone's just a freak, but some people are trying to hide it and some people embrace it.

I really don’t care what people think.