There are so many people that don't believe in themselves and don't have faith.

I do my best to try to keep God with me on a personal level. It's my belief that God really wants a personal relationship with us.

I went to Paris in 1989 when the Americans didn't quite know what to do with me at first. Now, all those years later, it's kind of the same story. Not the same scenario, but kind of the same story.

I think it'd be a real nightmare to put a record out and sell 20 million copies and then that's it.

I'm sure great scripts are hard to find, but I'm definitely open, and waiting to see what comes my way.

My mother's side of the family is from the Bahamas, and I spent time there on and off when I was growing up. It's the place where I feel at peace.

I was an actor when I was a teenager and it could have been the direction that I headed in. But music and my relationship with music is quite deep, and it really is the nucleus of my creativity. So I gave up acting so I could pursue music fully, and I never thought about really going back. And then [director] Lee Daniels met me and wanted to work with me, and that's how it started.