A couple of months ago I hauled my white ass on stage alongside Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder for Divas Las Vegas, singing in front of a celebrity audience. If I can hold my own there, I can hold my own at Top of the Pops, trust me.

I dropped out of school in the 11th grade because there was no purpose in it for me. I'm not proud of this, and I'm not trying to promote it.

I always loved singing and writing poetry. I always loved music, and I’ve loved writing my whole life. When I put them together it was probably in my early 20s, where I put words to music for the first time.

I'm not eager to jump into marriage again. I'm in the corner right now, wearing my dunce cap. That area is obviously a nightmare.

When I write, it's purging for me. It's a therapeutic process.

I'm just not interested in selling out to get on the charts and make people happy

I have a lot of memories, but I don't go into capitalizing on that. Something's got to be my own. I'm not doing the record to sit here and broadcast my memories of my father.