I remember Alicia Keys and Usher had released a song called 'My Boo,' and my music teacher got me to sing a duet with a friend of mine, and I remember being so nervous because I loved to sing, but I could never fathom singing by myself. And when I did that, I remember how proud I was of myself. I was 12.
I'm a big fan of skilled singers. Some of my favorites are Cee-Lo Green, Donny Hathaway, James Fauntleroy, and Kim Burrell.
Sometimes it might seem like I'm using my songs to give other people pointers. But mainly, they're for me, just little notes to myself that I collected, and the wisdom that I've read. I give myself a lot of advice.
Some days, I think maybe we should try and be a little more conventional, but every time I try, I fail, so I'm learning to not even entertain that thought anymore.
It's so crazy to see people singing along to songs that aren't even released yet. I'm like, 'How do you even know the lyrics? Have you been watching YouTube?'
If you don't like Beyonce, then it's hard for me to trust you. It's like not liking world peace.
I love hip-hop and soul, but I desperately want to challenge it and see what I can bring to it.
Performing didn't feel comfortable until I was about 17. I loved to sing, but I always said I would never perform because I was too scared.
I guess one thing that makes my music stand out is that it is quite hard to determine what genre it is.
I got introduced to Maps by my label, and I liked his sound. I had been living with the original version of 'Younger' for quite a long time when I heard the result of his remix, and I loved it. It actually made me find a new love for the track.
I met Magnus Lidehall about two years ago, and the beat that I originally wrote 'Younger' on was one of the first ones that he sent me. I must have been around 21 at that time, feeling a bit lazy and disappointed with myself and my life.
At the beginning, at my shows, there were a lot of press and people from record companies. Now there are people who are there to just listen to the music and are genuine fans.
Since I'm not good at anything else, I hope I can keep singing for a long time.
It's really important to me that the songs not only stand out individually but work as a full body of work, too.
I sing because it soothes me, and I write because I want to let others know that they're not alone with their problems.
We moved to Gambia from Sweden when I was six years old because my dad was from there. It was definitely a culture shock.
I had a hard time when I came back to Sweden and started school, because I looked different. And we moved to a really small town on the west coast of Sweden, and there were no brown people around. It didn't really get any better until I started music school at about 10 years old.
I got along with mostly everyone, but music school does that to you. We had to sing in a choir all the time, so we had to get along with everyone.
It was the part of Gambian culture where they give each other advice a lot, how they're always comparing things in order to get a message across... that really influenced the way I write.
By the second time I sang by myself in school, I just realized that I was more in control of my environment than I had ever been before.
