I see everything through a spiritual lens.

I missed out on the Spice Girls. I missed out on all those big pop phenomenon and missed out even on the Madonna records. It's okay, cuz I'm playing catch-up on everything now.

I feel really blessed because of where I come from.

When I was 13, I asked for a guitar. And that's how I really started explaining my point of view.

My religious upbringing was comically strict — even the Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner was banned. In our house, no one was allowed to refer to deviled eggs. We had to call them angelic eggs. We were never allowed to swear. I'd get into trouble just for saying 'Hell no'. If you dropped a hammer on your toe in our house you had to say something like 'Jiminy Christmas'. The only music we were allowed to listen to was gospel. No wonder I rebelled.

I've always been ambitious since I was nine years old and that was never going to change.

I still have a spiritual base and a spiritual foundation.