I have people come onstage and ask me questions and I get to meet them. That's one of the reasons I like it. When you're performing, when you're doing your movies, they're not there with you.

I'm very fortunate to have parents who have kept me grounded, so I hopefully won't end up in a bad situation when I grow up.

I find it funny that people now come up to me and say, 'Wow, you are absolutely gorgeous. I'm like, 'I was beautiful before I lost weight. Egotistically speaking, I thought I was amazing.'

Singing is just another outlet to express what I feel and to show everyone who I really am. I really don't talk about my personal life that much in interviews because that's my life, but with music, the way I write explains who I am.

Everybody takes breaks, and I decided to take mine. I wanted a chance to wake up at two in the afternoon and not be a subject of entertainment. I wanted to be a human being. At certain times and certain years, I felt like the Energizer bunny. That gets old very quickly.

My parents are my role models. I also love Halle Berry, Robert DeNiro, Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez. When I see their work, I get engulfed in it. They really capture me.

I'm an American; I'm not an African-American. I'm an American.