When I say R&B is dead, I'm pretty much saying the creativity is gone.

You can't really put a time limit on how long someone will grieve.

In America, there are some artists who are more of an image than music; if your star status goes down there, you're finished.

Back in the day, even if they were singing about the same things, each artist was unique. That's why I try to stay away from the big-name producers, so I can prove that it's not about the producer, it's about the artist. A lot of R&B artists have gotten away from being artists and are just chasing after the next hot producer and it all starts to sound the same.

A lot of times with my more up-tempo music, I try to take the approach of a hip-hop artist, but when it comes to imaging, I've been following the pattern of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Madonna.

I come over here and a lot of people are like, "What's with the new hair?" I'm like, "Y'all must not have been looking - every album, I change."

When I say R&B is dead, I'm pretty much saying the creativity is gone.