I say that I do soul, R&B music. I have so many influences, from Billie Holiday, Nina Simone to Stevie Wonder and Prince and even Al Green and Bjork. And a lot of hip hop music has influenced me a lot - you know - De La Soul and Digital Underground and A Tribe Called Quest.
Good soul music should make you feel something in your heart, in your body, and in your spirit. That's what I try to do both in the studio and on stage.
Africa doesn't look like it's changed that much to me since I first went in '94. There is still a major economic divide, but the rights of Africans have changed and progressed.
There are some parents who always have their daughter's hair whipped. Mine wasn't always like that, but I appreciate that both my parents were into me having natural hair, so they did find Anota Scott, who I was going to for my cornrows and wrapping last year and a couple years before that.
I feel, in my live shows, I can be as dynamic as I want. It's my comfort zone. When I get in the studio, it's more of a solitary experience, which can be good creatively.
I feel happy with myself when I go to the steam room and steam my face. But truth be told, my ultimate beauty indulgence is lip balm - I can't go an hour without lip balm.
I have a lot of family in South Africa, but I grew up in California. I feel like my name keeps me connected to a long line of people that have been through a heck of a lot. It reminds me to stay grateful, and it reminds me to try and step my game up if I'm slacking.
There are a lot of classic Goapele tracks that are obviously me. And I'm also just trying to keep evolving and grow as an artist. I've always had a wish list of producers I wanted to work with. I just wait until the feeling is mutual and go into the studio to see what we can come up with.
Kanye and I spoke of working together and started an idea that we didn't get to finish.
I think police brutality has been going on since - I don't know - ever since I can remember and, you know, hearing about it in my childhood.
It's always liberating to feel like I'm changing my hair and know that my fans are supporting that. I like to feel like I'm really expressing myself, and when people embrace it, it feels like an authentic connection.
When I'm singing, I can see so many people, and I can see their response and everything. And being somewhere like the Hollywood Bowl, I'm seeing those immediate people in front of me, but other than that, it's just dots, and I'm just imagining who's out there and imagining their responses.
I want to create a different kind of legacy.
I understand it for marketing purposes, but I've always hated defining myself with a genre. Nothing feels broad enough.
When I first was putting out music, I was like, 'I don't want to be overly sexy or do too much with the imaging or show too much skin, and I want to make sure my lyrics are balanced.'
As I get older, my perspective changes, and I just see how relationships aren't always what they appear to be. It's one of those sad but true things. We can see sometimes when people are becoming distant in all the things that create breaking apart, as painful as it is, and at the same time, still appreciating that person.
Whenever I have short ,it's important for me to be inspired by people with short hair.
I wanted it to be back to a state where it felt like it was thriving, so I think that my hair's happiest natural, and there's that hairstyle for everyone where you feel like, 'My hair is agreeing with this,' so I just cut it off recently again, and I'm going back natural.
I believe, as artists, I do think we have a responsibility, and there's also a place for a lot of different artists. It is nice when music captures the honesty of the time but also what we're going through in that moment.
Mos is a true artist who has a story to tell and gives back through his music. He remixed my song 'Different' in 2005, and the song we're working on now will be one of my future projects.
