Simplicity makes me happy.
Maturity and experience are part of my liberation.
There's too much darkness in the world. Everywhere you turn, someone is tryin' to tear someone down in some way; everywhere you go, there's a feeling of inadequacy, or a feeling that you're not good enough. I want to bring a certain light to the world.
My mom is definitely my rock.
I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.
I'm not ashamed of what I am and that I have curves and that I'm thick. I like my body.
I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.
Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word 'fear' from my vocabulary, and I think when you erase fear, you can't fail.
What breaks my heart is suffering of any kind. Too often, our world is divisive and cruel where it needs to be uniting and loving.
If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want - I go to the bathroom.
When I had nothing else, I had my mother and the piano. And you know what? They were all I needed.
I'd rather not have anything than be a liar.
I was tired and I had overworked myself and burnt myself out. So I went to Egypt by myself. When I saw what was built there, it made me understand how powerful we are, that we can create anything. And I felt like I needed to create things that were timeless too.
You've got to love what's yours.
I feel like B sides are always better, no matter whose record it is.
Things can be really empty in this world, and I don't just mean the music world. It can become a very meaningless place if you don't really understand: 'who am I? Why am I here? What am I doing?' To feel fulfilment and have a deeper level of understanding, personally, that is the most important thing.
I believe in the limitlessness of humans. We're capable of incredible things. At times, that realization is frightening.
My mixed-race background made me a broad person, able to relate to different cultures. But any woman of colour, even a mixed colour, is seen as black in America. So that's how I regard myself.
I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It's universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I've learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.
I don't have a ton of friends, but the friends I have are great ones. I don't have huge family, but the family I have is a great one.
