It's impossible to redefine yourself and your life overnight.

Growing up with the childhood that I had, I learned to never let a man make me feel helpless, and it also embedded a deep need in me to always stick up for women.

It's amazing how a truly great songwriter can touch anyone in the world with their words.

I think that the best way you can get honesty across in your music to connect and relate to people is to be motivated by personal emotions, stories and feelings.

I don't weigh myself - it's all about how I feel in my clothes.

There's a witch under this hair. The red lips are - I don't want to call them "armor," but they're the clothes of my character, and I'm in the business of entertainment. Wearing red lipstick helps get me into that world.

I was 21. At the time, I was under the thumb of my label, and I felt like I had to do, say and act out everything they asked me to do. I was trying to please them and the public and finally I had to say, "Enough. I'm going to make a record that makes me happy and addresses all facets of being a woman. I don't care if I sell one or one million records." That's how I came to make Stripped.