I liked performing, but not the struggle.

I had been performing since I was 5, so it wasn't like I hadn't been on a stage before. I was always older than my age. That's my nature. I've always been a kind of mature kid.

My mother always wanted to be in show business, but her parents discouraged her. So when I started performing for the mirror she enrolled me in dancing, singing and piano lessons.

If something isn't working out in one aspect of my career, it's not any big neurotic, crazy phase for me, it's just something that I accept, and that's okay. I'm not going to keep banging my head against the wall.

I'm a woman with a mission. I've learned to believe in myself, my vision and to do things the way I want them done.

We have a tendency in this country that when we say Black it automatically means Black Americans. But that's a big mistake, and that keeps us divided. There are Blacks all over this entire world-even in Africa.

I've had my bubblegum years and I did them well. Now it's time to come back as the woman, artist, and musician that I am without apologizing.