I wanted to make the album I always needed to make. I had to say the things I never could.

I never had a rivalry with Madonna. You don't knock another sister, ever. There's room for everybody on this planet; you don't have to be like anyone else.

If you think you're hearing something and you can't think what it is. If you feel a quiet longing lift your heart into the wind. There you'll find my kindred spirit. There you'll meet me as a friend. It is just a kindred spirit and a song to let you in.

Men and women are different. I don't think men grow a brain until 26 or even 30. Girls mature a lot quicker.

My mother said I was a little odd as a kid. I was alone a lot, but I didn't feel alone.

Everyone's gotta have a voice, to be able to speak out. Left supresses right, right supresses left, and what's left and what's right? You know? It's America. You gotta be able to speak out. That's why people came here from all over the world: to have a fair shake. Not more than somebody else - the same.

Where I come from, if you see your family and friends' civil rights being taken away, you speak up and do everything you can to keep that from happening!