When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

You can't change where you from. You can't take a person out of their zone and expect them to be somebody else now that they in the record industry. It's gonna take years. Years of travelling. Years of meeting people. Years of seeing the world.

I don't want to be remembered as anything but brave. The only good intention to make money is to help others. I want to be Oprah. I want to be Melinda Gates. If I ever sell products other than my talents, then it will be to give more to others.

When you break a sweat you just feel great. You've got your endorphins going. You feel better. You look better. And if you aren't able to get a workout in, try to find a steam room somewhere. You just look and feel so much better after a sweat.

I have always loved kids. They are little adults with so much personality, and it is fun to work with that. Whether that means donating school supplies or medication, or [using my celebrity] to get them a bone marrow transplant, I want to help.

When I am putting looks together, I dare myself to make something work. I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off, but I have to figure it out. I have to make it me. I think that's the thrill in fashion.

I found it to be kind of ironic, because I’m white, therefore I’m appropriating culture, but then Eminem won it - who’s white and won it many times - and they didn’t seem to say anything about that. I suspect it was just because they dislike me.

I think all you can really do is use the tour to kinda fill up with experiences and thoughts, and then, when you get back to the studio, or in some type of creative environment, that's when you release everything that you've encountered on tour.

When I'm feeling down on myself or not feeling good about who I am, or maybe something happened and I'm feeling depressed, I eat to fill that void. Afterwards I'll beat myself up about it. I regret doing it, but I'll turn around and do it again.

At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I'll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.

I wasn't into anything at school. I used to get really embarrassed. I used to get asked to do performing things, and I'd go to all the rehearsals, and then I'd pretend to be ill on the day I had to actually perform. I was very unhappy at school.

There's plenty of days when I'm like 'Oh God, why?' But that's just life. It's every job, not just mine. Every moment is not perfect. But it's definitely more good times than bad. You can't even compare. And when I'm on stage it feels incredible.

I was just a goofy little funny kid, who was always getting sent to the principal. It wasn't serious because I was smart. I wasn't like a true troublemaker, just rambunctious - like, talkative and trying to be funny. That was me in middle-school.

I'm really critical of my posture, it makes a big difference. And I try to suck my belly in. Everyone should do that whether you're on a red carpet or not. Even if you're just going out to dinner with your boyfriend you should try and suck it in.

I'm not ashamed, or embarrassed. I'm happy that I grew up listening to gospel music and came from where I came from. I feel like I have a history and a story. That's what I am and that's what I'll always be from. I was never running away from it.

When you go on your Twitter or look down your Timeline and it's all great positivity - I love that. But at the same time, it can really divert you from what your purpose is or what you're trying to do. And I've seen artists get caught up in that.

I wouldn’t call myself a feminist. I try to live by the girl-power motto. It’s about believing in yourself, no matter how bad a day you’re having, and lending your support to other women. It’s empowering to have that camaraderie with other women.

When I was in love, I fell so hard. I was really, really, really in love. The way it made me feel was priceless. And in a blink of an eye, my whole life changed. Everything that I knew was different. I never thought I'd feel that pain in my life.

Fashion for me is another way I get to express myself creatively. It is one of the fun things I get to do: to play dress-up, and create outfits and looks that aren't typical. I am an artist, so I like creating things. Shoes are my favorite thing.

I just feel like, with rappers, there's so much complacency. It's like, 'Oh, I'm a rapper. I'm successful. I make money. That's all that matters.' But there's a lot of stuff going on in the world. Whether or not you're aware of it, it's happening.

The internet is such a strange place. You can put up one thing on there like, Katy Perry was a taekwondo master of the black belt! When really all I did was one kickboxing class. That's how I think my short time in doing my gospel record was like.

I crushed on the most popular guy in school! I saw him at a concert and I shouted out," Is that Shane Lopes? You were the most popular guy in my class, but you never wanted to go out with me. Instead it was Amanda Wayne. What are you thinking now?

The old lessons of submissiveness and fragility made us victims. Women are so much more than that. You can be a businesswoman, a mother, an artist, and a feminist - whatever you want to be - and still be a sexual being. It's not mutually exclusive.

When I'm on the red carpet, I'm prepared for [the attention.] But the worst thing is on planes, when you're asleep and you're woken up by a camera flashing. That's a little bit much. But what do you do? It's a part of [being famous]. Unfortunately.

I think the sexiest thing about a man is that he's confident. Sure, sometimes you meet someone and you see his appearance first, but then you get to know him, and he looks completely different to you. So ultimately I think it's all about chemistry.

I've always been too hard on myself to behave like I've arrived or even to enjoy whatever success I've had. I've always envisioned myself higher than where I was and I still do. With each success I think, 'That's nice but I'm supposed to go there!'

Growing up, I was very conservative in my wardrobe, so when I first joined the Pussycat Dolls, the biggest challenge was wearing those cabaret costumes. I didn't feel comfortable showing my body so much, showing my legs and butt, chest and midriff.

I think honesty is the ultimate liberation in life. People want to shy away from the truth and keep sweeping it under the rug. But after a while, you pick up the rug and there's just way too much dirt, so you might as well just be up front about it.

I have always loved kids. They are little adults with so much personality, and it is fun to work with that. Whether that means donating school supplies or medication, or using my celebrity status to get them a bone marrow transplant, I want to help.

At the very worst, if I have a short-lived career, at least I could say I sparked a change - that I inspired some leniency in what people accept in hip-hop. And if I have a very long career and can be gyrating in a leotard at 35, that would be great.

I wish I studied more religions, I wish I read the Bible, the Quran. I think as I get older, I will start to really dive into religions, just because I feel like there's truths in all of those books. Clearly. I'm saying there's truths in all of them.

What I wanted to be and who I am is a singer and a songwriter. I wanted to be onstage, and I wanted the world to hear my music. The product of that is fame and the disgusting celebrity that goes along with it. But celebrity does not equal creativity.

The lyrics to the single 'Survivor' are Destiny's Child's story, because we've been through a lot, ... We went through our drama with the members ... Any complications we've had in our 10-year period of time have made us closer and tighter and better.

I think people have an idea in their heads about entertainers[and] celebrities. I think they feel like their lives are so perfect, and it's really hard to go through painful experiences when you are in the public eye because it's hard to have closure.

So I'm very happy if my words can ever inspire or empower someone who considers themselves an oppressed minority. We are all the same and we all want the same things: the right to be happy, to be just who we want to be and to love who we want to love.

I feel like relationships are a beautiful thing, period. Relationships can be really beautiful, they can be really hard, they can be really rewarding, or they can be bad relationships where it's really detrimental and hurtful, but that's life, period.

I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let's face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what's sexy. And men define what's feminine. It's ridiculous.

My parents are very competitive, so we are very competitive as kids. But it's a good kind of competition; it's not a jealousy. You always want to do your best, and if it can't be you, you want it to be your brother or your sister, you know what I mean?

What happened to [Michael Brown] should've never happened. Never. But when we don't have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within. Don't start with just a rally, don't start from looting - it starts from within.

I'm confident in who I am. I've come to a place in my life where I've accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That's just the way I've always tried to be. It didn't change when I became a star.

Yes, I will probably be that way. I am sure I will. I think that it shouldn't stop you. I think of course my life is going to change, and I definitely will make sacrifices, but you know, I think I will be able to bring hopefully my little rider with me.

My mom is one of those people that you feel honored to meet. And no matter who you are, you fall in love with her because she is spiritual, she's inspiring, she's strong, she's funny, she's creative, she's talented... she's everything that I want to be.

I always feel like it's two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that's step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.

I always feel like I'm rehearsing. I'm a workaholic. But youve got to let go and trust and enjoy! I'm a real perfectionist. Its probably my biggest disadvantage. But as long as I can go out there, trust in the work and just have fun, thats what matters.

Oh, I will always be honest with my music. The records are black boxes for me. Like if you want to know who I am, my views, my perspective, things I love, things I hate, my convictions, my anthems. I've never let people's opinions affect the way I write.

My career is like an artichoke. People might think that the leaves are tasty and buttered up and delicious, and they don't even know that there's something magical hidden at the base of it. There's a whole other side of me that people didn't know existed.

[Drizzy] reached out to me through Chase N Cashe, they're brothers, they're one. Chase N Cashe made the connection, played some of my music and he [Drake] got up on it, got interested in the music and just reached out and said "You know what, let's work."

When I heard 'Jesus, Take the Wheel,' I was like, OK. Some people look at it as a song written for an American Idol, Carrie Underwood, who is wonderful. But when you're a songwriter listening to a song, you hear something else. I heard that song, and wow.

Actually I am having so much fun, it has been the most fun time now that it has been announced and I don't have to, you know, it was really difficult to conceal, but now that I can be proud and excited about it I'm having so much fun shopping - it's great.

I think music is something that can, and should, be used to get you into different things because eventually what goes up must come down - we're not going to be the number one group in the world forever - so you have to have something else to fall back on.

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