I don't like to listen to my older albums. They frighten me. I can't explain it. It's so subjective. It's so personal. I cannot listen to my first album, ever. Never, never, never.
The thing I love about hip-hop is that it's so creative. It's so creatively rewarding. When you hit it, and you hit it big, there are no words.
I really see that socio-economic constraints and pressure contribute to our mental health in a big way. You come to realize that it's all mental health.
What I try to steer my kids away from is any time there's a pattern, and you can slap any other track on that track, and it would still work.
Actually, no, because awards don't spark sales as much as you'd think.
And I think it's a real challenge to be up there sometimes with only a keyboard if they don't have a grand piano... and to try to win people over that way. It's really hard.
Generally my feeling is that I think women are just in a universal way coming out, coming to their own more. And they have more opportunity, and basically we're equal.
I can't say I want to earn a particular award or sell a certain number of records, because even if I do that, the satisfaction only lasts five minutes.
I listened to my record and hear lots of influences. And it's very rich... it's got a wide spectrum.
I seem to have secured some place in world of music and that's kind of all that really matters to me.
I think it's important to really press on with the song writing and just go with it. There's no code, there's no craft... it's just let yourself shine through your music. If it's meant to be loved and heard, it'll happen.
I'm not writing just about melancholy stuff anymore, I made a point to cover a wide range of emotions.
I've built a solid career there, but America's ten times the size. Now that we're onto the third record, I feel like the stars have aligned and American audiences are embracing my music even more.
I've found that in now having experienced what it's like to make records and just through growing up in general that you should be expressive about what's affecting you instead of trying to sing about a subject just for the sake of other people getting something from it.
The flattery is nice, but awards don't add up to writing quality songs.
If certain songs become popular enough to the point where I'll be playing them the rest of my life, I don't want them all to dwell on the same down moment that I'll have to keep reliving.
If I'm writing strictly for others, how does that show what I'm experiencing or thinking? I just got to a point where I realized I could be as personal as I wanted to be and people could relate to those situations if they so choose.
Making sleep happen is a must - anytime, anywhere, from a plane to a train to an automobile. Ideally, I like to get eight to ten hours a night, though I'll take it broken up in two segments if I have to.
Maybe in past years, perhaps women didn't feel quite as comfortable with revealing themselves, and their skills and their crafts... and now we are, so we're out there, just like the guys.
Of course, I would be depressed sometimes, and my Mom would be worried about me because I would just sleep to escape. Cause I was so scared of being a musician or artist, or whatever you want to call it.
