I used to want to be the quickest, loudest, and sharpest. I think as time has gone on, I've gotten more relaxed.

I did, like, a couple of sexier videos, because all of a sudden I went, 'Wow, I have a body. I have this side of me that I haven't shown yet.' And I started kind of playing around with that side of things.

I've been, I think, able to stay grounded in such a crazy business, and I attribute that a lot to my family, and especially to my mother. Because, you know, she just was always there to kind of remind me of what priorities should be. O.K., yes, I'm an artist, I'm a performer, but I'm a sister, I'm a daughter, I'm a granddaughter, I'm an aunt. Those things have to be as important, if not more important, than my career.

I've learned to have a sense of humor about myself. Lord knows everyone else does!

I don't know if people feel this way, but I think by nature that when you start off as a young pop singer, they assume that you're a bit pampered, prissy, and precious, or that you live in a bubble and not in the real world. For me that's not the case.

I think any parent that makes their kid sit at a piano against their will and practice, they're going to have a kid that's not going to want to play the piano.

I'm glad I started so young, because you are really able to endure so much at that age.