I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that.

I'm not different. I'm not different at all. The wrapping is different but the gift is still the same.

I really love live performing!

Perseverance. I got cut twice. I got cut in Charlotte. I didn't have to go to Atlanta to audition. I could have said, "I'm not cut out for this." But I said, "I think I'm better than that, I can go try again." So I went to Atlanta and I made it through. Then I got cut the first time around. I could have told them I didn't want to come back for the Wild Card show but I did and look how far I got.

My mother taught me that we all have the power to achieve our dreams. What I lacked was the courage.

Clive [Davis] tried to tell me that saying certain words in a song - or as he says, 'putting some balls into it' - isn't bad, it's just strong emotion. Well, there are certain words and emotions I don't want kids hearing, and I'm not changing because they think it's going to sell better. This is going to sound horrible, but I got 12 million votes doing what I did.

I don't understand why people like me! It doesn't make any sense!