I met India Arie, who is one of my favorite artists of all time. It was really sweet; I was broken up with a month before, and she stayed up texting me all night and was helping me through it. Her text message looks like a song of hers. She's sort of become my fairy godmother.
I'm so thankful for the Internet because actors and singers and performers now have a way to connect with their fans on a very personal level which I think is quite special.
People tend to think that because I'm a performer and I don't go to a regular high school that I haven't personally been affected by bullies. But it's actually quite the contrary.
I did stand-up for my grandparents every day when I was, like, eight.
I'm a big perfectionist! I'm trying to channel super-confident women like Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Beyonce, because I realized that if you want something, you really have to go for it, just like they do.
I feel like when I try to fit in, it comes across as not genuine, and that is not good. I'd rather just do me and have people say, 'Oh. That's interesting,' than try to fit in.
Every day, my mom and I would watch a different Judy Garland VHS. I love how she tells a story when she sings. It was just about her voice and the words she was singing - no strings attached or silly hair or costumes, just a woman singing her heart out. I feel like that doesn't happen that much anymore.
I don't feel much pressure to fit in. I never have. I've always just wanted to do my thing. I have really good friends and good family, and if I don't fit in somewhere else, I fit in at home.
Mariah and Whitney Houston were my goddesses growing up.
I have a garden in my backyard that's completely organic, which I'm very proud of.
I always knew that St. Jude was an amazing organization but meeting the kids and seeing how the hospital works first hand was truly beautiful. It doesn't feel like a regular hospital all dreary and sad. It's a colorful, beautiful, comfortable, fun place to live and the energy is wonderful.
I grew up writing songs in my room on GarageBand, and I would make the beats just out of layering my vocals over and over again. Very Imogen Heap-inspired.
I just love to shop. If I could, I would shop every single day in every single store and spend all of my money which, you know, I do anyway.
To be honest, I never really considered myself to be too much of an actress. So, whenever I get the chance to do music, I'm always, like, just in it. It's like, 'Oh my God, I finally get to do this. I'm so happy.'
If anything, we should feel sorry for the people who want us to feel bad about ourselves, because they are the ones struggling for approval. In middle school, bullies tortured other kids because they thought it would make people like them more.
I jog up to the Hollywood sign every weekend. It's fun and what a view!
If I could, I would not do anything else. I'd just be in the studio for my whole life. I would never go to parties, events, and red carpets. I would rather just be in the studio for the whole time. I don't even care. Nobody has to know what I look like. I just want to make music.
I want to be a recording artist for my whole entire life. But Broadway is something I would come back to at any given moment. I love, love, love doing theater.
I worked with someone who told me they'd never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.
I love, love, love just being hands on at all times in the studio.
