If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count.

I understand people want to hold on to their roots.

I always sang and I always wrote...it's just having that ambition. You really can't let go of your dreams.

I look around and see the things I have, and I remember not having them. That is one thing that keeps me grounded. I'm definitely the same person I was. . . . I never lose me, I never lose the real person.

Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.

My father identified as a black man. No one asked him because he was clearly black. But people always ask me. If we were together, people would look at us in a really strange way. It sucked. As a little girl I had blond hair and they'd look at me, look at him, and be disgusted.

If you believe within your soul, just hold on tight and don't let go! You can make it, make it happen