I don't listen to people's opinions. I have people around me who I can trust, but most of all I listen to myself.

So as long as I'm a human being and I'm not perfect, I'm able to say I'm having some growing pains. Because in order to sustain where you are once you made such a breakthrough that everyone is looking at you, now everyone is like, 'Ooh, is she gonna make a mistake?' Yes, I'm going to make a mistake. Yes, I'm still gonna do things.

Cause I'm no better than you, you, or you. And I can't get on no throne and preach, 'cause I'm not God.

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

If you're looking for inner peace from the outside world, you're not going to get that. The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside.

My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block.

I'm on my way to a place where I'd never dreamed I'd be, and that's perfection.