I've always known my own mind, and I'm not shy about speaking it.

I guess I've been making records since I was 16, and even when 50 people bought them, I thought that was amazing.

I love writing songs where the name is the title.

I'm excited about representing my gender, but at the same time it doesn't matter. I wouldn't say my gender has been a disadvantage.

Destiny's Child literally taught me how to sing.

My mum loved Joan Armatrading and used to play her records all the time and even took me to see her a couple of times when I was really quite young. I didn't really like her music back then because my mum was always playing it, but I've grown to appreciate it more.

I love being at home now, improving my cooking. I've got a really bad memory, so my first attempts were a disaster - I'd forget what ingredients to put in. But I do a lasagna that's a crowd-pleaser, and a good lemon drizzle cake, which I take to my mom's for the Sunday roast to fatten the family up.