I needed a break, and going to culinary school turned a lightbulb on that I didn't have to make music. The people in the music business forget that not only is there an entire world of people out there who do not care what we do, we are not creating the wheel.
After 'Kelis Was Here,' I was done. I was like, 'I will never put out another record again; I hate this business; I hate all these people.' I was in this race that I didn't even realise that I was in.
I don't ever want to part with any of my shoes. They all have a special place in my heart because they say something about who you are today.
Being the ideal of a strong woman means utilizing all the things that God gives you. People are always saying to me, 'You're a strong female, so why are you wearing a bikini on the cover of that magazine?' Being a strong woman is misconstrued to be something evil and ugly.
Am I R&B because I'm black? Am I pop because I have a song called 'Milkshake'? Or can I just be who the hell I am? Good Lord, people make it seem like we're doing heart transplants here, but we're just making music!
As a child, I'd help my mum cook, and it was ridiculous - she had the correct gadget or utensil for everything. 'Stop! Don't use that, I have exactly the right utensil.' After I left home, I survived on cup-a-meals and never saw myself as being like her. Now I've become her.
My desire was never to put out albums; it was to do musical theatre!
Everything I do has a certain quality, a certain flair, a certain flavor. I like to eat the way I like to dress, the way I listen to music: put it all together, and it's a great party.
I've done a lot of different tours. For me, I try to go on tours that I think are gonna be fun. It's, like, grueling, and it's hard, and there's got to be an element to it that's exciting.
My audience is made up of such bizarre, rare people. They're very sparse and scattered; it's not like a huge body of people.
People know 'Milkshake' like a jingle, but they don't really know who I am.
The business of music. You know, it's an oxymoron in a sense. It's like the two things. Although we both need each other, they really don't go together.
My mom was concerned that us four little black girls have a really well-balanced life. She wanted us to be around people like us, but we also went to private school and traveled all the time. Now I fit in most places because I've been most places.
