It's like a dream to come to Spain and stay for a couple of years and get somebody to teach me Spanish music.

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.

If you go to Japan, they're still buying vinyl, and they want the education. They know who's playing on what tracks from the '60s and the '70s - who the guitar player is, who the drummer is, who the producer was, what studio it was recorded in. That's how I grew up listening to music. We bought albums. We read the liner notes. It was important to know the whole history behind it.

The most important thing for me is the moment, going from one thing to the next and hitting all the different levels and different points that make the whole what it is.

I haven't thought about making a music film, but if I did, that would be a very interesting idea.

You can start something, do it, and believe that that's what you're doing, but then the inspiration comes and it's like, "Nope, this is what it is."

I always try to keep the circumstances in my life fresh. I like to change the physical environment I live in, change the people around me and try to experience things for the first time. I think that keeps one on their toes, creatively and spiritually.