My stepfather was a very nasty individual.

I could hear music playing in the background of works by certain authors, like Poe and Shakespeare. And I discovered Nikki Giovanni when I was in eighth grade. Her writing has a musical energy with pulse and rhythm, almost like jazz or hip-hop.

Everybody's looking for love, and you want to love somebody and be loved in return.

I'm going to do as much as I can with this life, and then I'm going to make sure to take some time off and be simple and ride my bike and hang out with friends.

I was backstage at the House of Blues in L.A where I was about to perform, and Stevie Wonder and Prince turned up at my dressing room together! Stevie started beat boxing and Prince started singing one of my songs, all of a sudden it was like I was in a cypher with these incredible artists.

I get scripts all the time, but I read this [Baggage Claim] thoroughly, and I loved it. It was light hearted, cute, sweet, and funny. I told my agent that I liked the script, but I did let my acceptance of the role slide a little, until I was watching television one day; scrolling through the stations, and there was this play. And I don't like plays made for the screen. But, this one, "Suddenly Single", caught my attention.

That's what I enjoy most about my music, that it heals in its own time and makes us look at ourselves in its own time.