This was a time frame when dance music and clubs were having a real impact on culture, and it had an impact on me.

If you're a lame brain, then you're a lame brain. I can't help that.

You can be self-empowered and still learning about how you think about things daily.

I started playing the piano when I was about two and got a scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore when I was five. But I left when I was 11.

I think everyone understands grief, the journey it takes us on, whether it's the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a disappointment. Some people don't deal with it, the power of it. Some do. Some feel the weight of it and it informs their choices. I've had to open up to grief in different contexts.

When the mothers start to shatter, then everything just comes undone.

There's a side to this industry that nurtures divas who can't write. It's a big business.