Just don't let the hype of what people are saying and how much they love you, y'know, just take the compliment and be thankful that people are complimenting you, but don't let it consume you; don't let your circumstances around you and the way people view you make you act a certain way.

When life is real, it's not going to be smooth.

I can go out raw with nothing, and my fans would still be happy, but I feel that I owe it to them to give them almost like a Broadway musical at this point in my life. I have to give them something more, so I do have to think of different ways to do it.

It's OK showing yourself some love.

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.

My career doesn't get harder because when you have something to share, you have something to share. And when it's a trial or a situation that you triumph out of, you have to - because this is the relationship I started with my fans on the My Life album in 1994. You have to share in order for people to see how you came through it, or how you're dealing with having thoughts of doubting yourself. What songs are gonna help you? What lyrics are gonna pull you out of your slump?

Sometimes I frown and I don't realise it.