Quotes

I'll be a nun, raise my daughter, and make albums.

I just feel my sexuality is private. I'm very shy about being sexy. That part of me has been so closed to the public eye. I've sold millions of records with my clothes on. (Vibe, June 2004)

[on her vegan lifestyle] I think cooking completes you as a woman. I woke up one morning and said, I can't do this [eating meat] to myself anymore. I didn't feel good. I was constipated all the time. I used to live to eat. Now I eat to live. (Vibe, April 2002)

When you get a chance to step back, you notice all these great things you've done and all these great people that you've worked with.

Just staying true to yourself and staying true to your passion. Following your gut.

That's the beautiful part about acting - you get to play somebody other than yourself. So, I'm open to people who can't sing, people who can, people that sing a little bit, or people that sing a lot.

There's a lot of people out there who go through hard times, and they feel alone. They feel like nobody is there. But I'm in the same boat.

It's easy to just give everything up, but it takes a lot of strength and a lot of willpower to just make yourself stay on it and get up and do something different. And I had to do that.

When you fall in love, you wanna share it with people but you know there are some things that you need to keep to yourself, 'cause privacy makes things last longer, I feel.

I think creativity becomes really beautiful and magical when you allow it to do what it's needing you to do.

I love music. That's my first love. I'm actually going to start working on that full-time very soon, but I love acting as well. It satisfies a different part of who I am. I love to pretend, to imagine, try new things, work with different people, and just see how far I can go.

[on singer Adele] My daughter is in love with Adele. She listens to her every day. To see someone with that much passion and soul move a 9-year-old is amazing and it's magical.

I needed to explore my talent and versatility and see if I had another side to me, another sound.

It's about what value I place on myself. What do I think of myself? I know my worth. I know my value. I know that I'm Sy'rai's mom. I know I have to lead by example. I can't just be all over the place. Then, I'm also not a punk. You can't just come to my pages talking any kind of way. There's a precedence set. It's about respect. I put the energy out that I want given back to me. I put that out there. And again, I'm true to me.

Your children can be around you all day, but if you don't spend quality time with them and you don't pay attention to them and talk to them and listen to them, it doesn't matter that they're just around you.

I definitely felt like I needed a break, because when you do so much, you're not able to appreciate the things that you accomplish.

All the '90s music. I don't get into the favorite songs thing, because so many speak to different parts of my life, but the music in the '90s is just unbeatable. I was in the gym today listening to '90s stuff and just showing my daughter videos of '90s artists that I loved and who I came up listening to, but Whitney Houston is my idol and my mentor and my dream forever, like she will always be my favorite artist, ever, on the planet. Like I don't think I'll ever feel that way about another artist. And The Cosby Show was my favorite TV show, The Golden Girls and Family Matters. What else did I love? Oh, Full House! I'm so excited for it to come back.

I'm my biggest inspiration. And I say this in the most humble way. I've been through so much, just in my life. I've been through a lot. A lot of ups, a lot of downs. But over the last couple of years, I went through so much. It felt like I lived like four lives in the last three years. I've had to come through a lot and I've made a lot of different mistakes, but I realized that I never gave up. I wanted to so badly. It's easy to just give everything up, but it takes a lot of strength and a lot of willpower to just make yourself stay on it and get up and do something different. And I had to do that. I'm very proud of myself because I have come so close to just giving up and I haven't done that. And my daughter, I can't give up because she's watching and she's here and she's waiting for me to be an example. So, between her, myself, and my will, and me pushing myself, that's my inspiration.

In my life right now, in my music, and just overall I feel like I'm winning. It doesn't matter what this person is saying or what the charts are saying or what award shows are saying, the public opinion doesn't matter. I feel like I'm winning in my spirit. So, that's a different type of validation is when you are validating it. The extra opinions and the extra praise is just a bonus, it's not the main thing. The main thing is how I feel about myself. And I feel really good about myself. I love the way that feels. I haven't felt like this in a very, very long time. Musically, professionally, I just haven't felt this good in my life in a long time.

The idea of kids helping other kids is such a great way to introduce children to being involved in charitable causes and volunteer work, setting them on the path to doing good for others throughout their lives.

[her advice for young artists wanting a lasting career] I think it's just staying true to yourself and staying true to your passion. Following your gut. A lot of people in this business tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't do. And not to say you shouldn't take advice, especially if you have honest people around you, but at the end of the day, it's your gut that tells you what you should do and you should listen to that. Like I said, stay true to yourself because it goes a long way. If you don't know who you are, who are you really?

[on taking long breaks] I think this break is really me coming into my own as an artist and really making the motto of my life to be brave because I'm been through a lot and I'm still here. I feel there's so much purpose that's left in me to share with people and I'm just ready to use my gift in the right way because I know I have a gift and it's unique and different than anybody else's. I'm supposed to do something with it and I'm happy that I know that now. It's not just cliche or just something to say because I feel it. I'm happy about that.

When you don't know your values or who you are or you start to believe things other people are telling you, you get lost. I was more lost than afraid because I usually face things I'm afraid of. I was just lost because I didn't know what I meant to music or what music meant to me. Now I just belong solo and I belong by myself. I love singing with my brother and my daughter. I'll probably do a lot of features and I've done a lot recently, but I'm a solo artist.