Soul music is true to its name. It's music that connects to your soul, your spirit. When music resonates with people's spirit like that, when people can emotionally connect with something or it helps to heal them, transform them, that never goes out of style. People will always need something to relate to.Collection: Music
I do devotion in the morning. I pray and I read the word.Collection: Morning
I've been blessed with so many opportunities and so many amazing things throughout this process. But all the while, I remember that the reason that I'm here and the reason that I do music and tell these stories is that people come to know the love, the God that I know.Collection: Amazing
I'm inherently a chameleon... to not evolve is to not live.
I think gratitude is a big thing. It puts you in a place where you're humble.
I was heavily influenced by big voices when I was younger. People like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti Labelle really spoke to me. When I got older, I was into Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Lauryn Hill, but it wasn't until I started working with a voice coach that I really dove into jazz music.
I was a dancer for long time. And you always hear that ballet is the core of dance, and that - once you have that down - you can do everything else. For me, jazz is like that for music.
Tony Bennett is an iconic jazz legend.
That's why I loved Dinah Washington. She sung jazz, but they called her the Queen of the Blues. She had the control and sophistication of jazz in her note selection and how to attack a song or certain lines, but then attacked it with a painful force of blues behind it. That's why I admired her so much, because of that versatility.
The reach of Coke and McDonald's is undeniable, and I'm thrilled these iconic brands are joining forces to inspire local communities through messages of peace and motivation in unique ways. It's an added bonus that they are using the lyrics to 'Rise Up' as a part of those messages.
The elementary school I went to, Valencia Park, was focused on the arts.
I'm not going to put myself in a box.
I'm very particular but very thrifty at the same time.
I'm a huge Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu fan, so working with those two in any capacity would be a dream.
My faith was eventually what helped me face myself, tell the truth about everything I had done, face criticism, cope with guilt, pain, and grow from all of it.
No matter how dark or precarious it may seem, continue to pursue your truth.
As my face got cleaner, my relationships got cleaner.
I've always wanted to be a woman who isn't afraid to tell her story.
As a singer, if I'm in a room that is too cold, I kind of freak out, so I actually like the humidity, and I love the heat.
I gleaned different style ideas over the years. In Southern California, there is a big rockabilly sub-culture. So when I would go to car shows, I would see women dressed like this. I had a teacher in high school that always had her Bette Paige bangs.
I like things that are over the top and subtle at the same time.
I like very, very dramatic eyeliner: I take it all the way out to my eyebrows.
I tell people all the time - I'm a very spiritual person, so I pray over everything that I do including creating music, a new song.
Whichever chord progressions move me, whether it's rock, jazz, doo-wop or soul, I'm going to put it together and not be worried about whether people can put it in a lane or not.
I always felt more comfortable with a full face of makeup.
I style my hair so frequently that I need a really good conditioner to keep it moisturized.
I try to avoid hairspray, gel, and heat as much as I can - I will use a pomade or a very heavy conditioner to style it the way that I want it.
I play with doing a forehead bun a lot, just a bantu knot right in front of the forehead and keep it in with a clip. And I like doing real pinup styles but based on my natural hair.
I use this GPB glycogen protein balancing conditioner by Aubrey Organics that I love.
I was actually discovered by Kai Millard and Stevie Wonder.
I really like jazz and soul, but I also love so many other types of music, and I didn't want to be afraid to blend and experiment.
I was a dancer for about 20 years. It didn't really help me transition into music.
I danced for a while, and I knew I could sing, so I just began singing in a praise band at church and doing musical theater and jazz vocal performance in school. One didn't really lead to another; I was just always interested in the performance arts.
My style icons are Lucille Ball for her bouffant hair and all the updos, James Dean for his rockabilly style - the denim and rolled-up T-shirt thing. And I am also inspired by Dita Von Teese and Gwen Stefani. Their style is retro, but it's still very feminine at the same time.
A pompadour is actually pretty easy for me; it takes me about five minutes.
I decided to see how my voice sounds on different type of records. So I did Eminem and the Biggie, Florence and the Machine, and Muse covers. A couple of them just came from some jam sessions between me and my sister in her bedroom at my father's house in San Diego.
For the record, I am not Stevie Wonder's wife, and no, I am not his child.
I like the Victory rolls, beehive, pompadour - all of that stuff. It's just cool. And actually, with ethnic hair, oddly enough, it works so well because I don't have to tease my hair to get body.
I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.
When I heard Billie Holiday's voice, Nina Simone's and Ella Fitzgerald's - there was something about their voices to me that was such a different texture than what I was used to listening to at the time. Hearing those jazz voices were so different, and I think I just gravitated toward it.
I always knew I wanted to be a performance artist.
At a young age, I wanted to be a prima ballerina and had these grand ideas that I would go study at Juilliard. It's something I laugh about now.
My prayers are being answered for my career. These are prayers I've been praying for as a kid.
I want people to... not be afraid of their truth.
I give credit to my team. I have dedicated people from my label, my fans, and people at these companies that believe in me.
When I was 20, I wanted to be famous and win a Grammy and have people respect and love me.
I'm very obsessed with pop culture of the mid-century and it goes hand-in-hand with the music that I studied in school.
I actually like the sort of industrial, working-class woman like Rosie the Riveter, so I'm kind of like the sort of street style of the '50s.
I think fashion and artistry go hand in hand.
The visuals are equally as important as the music. It's all a complete experience.