Since I'm always working, my best holiday memories are definitely when I can just go home and spend time with my family.

Bad things are always going to happen in life; People will eventually hurt you, but you can't use that as an excuse to hurt someone back.

I would say I'm an inspirational guidelines book. You can take my life story or scenarios or songs and relate to them and apply them to your everyday life.

I started when I was about 11, singing.

If men or women don't feel [the way I do], then don't live your life that way. Whatever works for your relationship. It's not just sex. I feel like that about dinner, about taking care of who you're with.

I got a chance to get an actual label. I performed this slow song, this ballad I have. I just remember going to the first woman I saw in the room and just getting on my knees holding her hand just singing. And I was like, you know what, I got to just sell it. I remember that day they were like, yo we want to sign you. [After] I went into the bathroom, I started crying, [and] I called my mom. I was like momma – I did it.

I tried to stay away from the Euro beats, and not go totally pop. Instead, I wanted to take the Quincy Jones approach. The record pays homage to the Stevie Wonders, the Michael Jacksons, the Sam Cookes. I wanted to put that classic essence of R&B and soul with the new age of music now. There’s a lot of live instruments, and a lot less Auto-Tune. I really wanted to demonstrate my vocal ability, creating the vibe of me singing along with a band.