I've been offered a lot of things that celebrities do that I wouldn't do, like perfumes, lines of clothing and this, that and the other.

If there's ever been a dark moment in my life... well, I wanted to check out. Music was a big escape.

I'm very appreciative of, and I also, having traveled the world, know that the United States is one of the few places where there really are no limitations. As long as you've got drive and hard work and a good idea and you can get out there and do your thing, there's no social classes, so in a lot of countries there's a big history of regardless of how much money you may make, there's still that little thing where you're not in society. That doesn't exist here.

You want your fans to like what you do, because it's coming from your heart and soul. You write it, you produce this thing. It's like your baby.

My mom was definitely very strict with me.

In Europe there's the upper crust, and these are long, historically families and social systems that have certain established rules that's harder to break into.

Sometimes my mother had difficulty communicating with me about certain topics.