I've had to grow up with everyone watching me, which has been hard.

If you give yourself too much time, you kind of over-obsess about the music. It's not supposed to be like that.

Who says soul has only one colour?

There is a silver lining to every cloud and there's some awesome songs that have come from some really like bad experiences, but they're great experiences 'cause then I've got some good songs so it's all good for me.

The big, big record labels have so much control. I think too much control that it actually made their artists scared to not do what they were told and then the music suffers because of that dynamic and now there's the power of the download.

Madonna's not the best singer in the world, but she was awesome with her entertainment and all of her shock tactics and stuff and that's where it began. She then inspired all sorts of other girls to do that. But I don't know, I just think music's kind of important too. So you've gotta know where that line is especially when you are good at singing.

The British press has been unfair to me and the public has followed.