I was always inundated with music, whether it be my mother's favorites like Fleetwood Mac and Carole King and the Carpenters, or my dad's jazz music.
I established early what I was and wasn't willing to accept. People tried to say what I had to do, whether it be pop or R&B, to be successful. Even when I was in the girl group, they would try to make our voices sound very radio-friendly and fit that mold. But even before I got signed, I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.
Once you see how powerful music is and how it can affect people, then you want to use it to impact the world.
I feel like fear is a very real thing, a very ubiquitous thing, and it can be very subtle.
The album 'Cheers to the Fall' is really kind of me breaking out and being like, 'Listen, I don't care about criticism, and I don't care about possibility of failure. I'm going to do it. And if I do fail, well then, here's to it.'
When I graduated, everyone was like, 'You got to do pop and R&B to make it,' like very contemporary pop and R&B. I tried for a little while, but I just realized my voice wasn't quite fitting some of the records that I was doing.
I love the Black Keys because I love that guy's voice.
I love different eclectic bands. I love Phoenix and Kimber.
My sister and I - she's a musician - we jam all the time. We always play around for giggles with stuff that seem unconventional or stuff that seems funny. A lot of the stuff sometimes is just a response from jam sessions in her room, so she'll be on the guitar or the keyboard, and we'll just start singing and doing stuff.
I struggled academically in high school because it was hard to focus. It was hard to focus on those things that were other than artistic stuff.
I try to not go, 'I'm writing a pop song.' Music is inherently genre-bending.
Throughout my life, I've had consistent DNA.
Performing at the TMCF Awards Gala is so exciting.
The most amazing thing is being onstage and watching the audience sing every song lyric for lyric.
My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.
I didn't want to box it in or say this show caters to this type of person... I think the tide of music is changing. We don't have to worry about rules. We should just do what feels good.
I'm grateful and enjoying the ride.
If it looks like your grandma's bedsheets, I'll put it on my body.
What I wear onstage is so stylized and bold.
When I'm not working, I still love bright colors and patterns, but I choose pieces that are much more casual - I call it my lazy pinup look.
I search for items that have history, like vintage finds - I love fur kitten-heel house slippers from the 1950s - and pieces from fashion houses that have been around for a long time, like Chanel and Dior.
I consider each performance to be an intimate conversation between me and the audience members.
I'm excited for the audiences to hear the title track, 'Cheers to the Fall,' plus 'Red Flags' and 'Rearview.'
I want people to know my truth. Unconditional love of God and each other.
My family wasn't in the music business, but they loved music.
My father loved music. He loved Motown and R&B, and my mother loved Journey and Fleetwood Mac, so they were always listening to it and playing it.
Musically, I try not to box things in. I try to just play around this spectrum of influences: soul, jazz, and hip-hop.
I pray, read the word, and then creative stuff happens here. Problem-solving and all of that comes into that space. So 'Da Box' actually represents my sanctuary and that time. I might look trapped in a box, but I'm actually more free in that box than anyone on the outside looking in or in any other space in my life.
I always loved music and was drawn to it and affected by it. But it wasn't until I got to San Diego that I started exploring music more.
I was living with my mom in a tiny apartment in Chula Vista, near Third and H Street behind the 7-Eleven. It was crazy to be on the phone with Stevie Wonder. I felt like a meteor hit our apartment!
I knew that I could sing when I was young. I would listen to a lot of jazz; I'm a big jazz fan. When I first got to high school and studied musical theater, I could sing. But I added certain things to my voice, and I realized after graduating high school that this is the kind of voice I had. It's not very nimble, but it's heavy.
I love hip-hop, and everybody knows that.
Foreknowledge is a wonderful thing.
It was so surreal, having my parents hear the President and First Lady saying to me, 'Good to see you again! We're so proud of you. We watched you on the Grammys and were like, 'That's our girl!'
It would have been so awesome to be born in the Thirties and be in your prime in the Fifties. Except for the whole being black thing, obviously!
My style was established in the Forties and Fifties, then got dragged through the decades and picked up a couple more things on the way.
My band and I are even closer. They've grown with me over four years, so we're closer and closer and closer.
I'm grateful for the fans who've been there from the beginning and am excited about how we've grown and how we've evolved now.
'Rise Up' is definitely my baby. I think it was a gift because, you know, it's like God just spoke to me and wrote that song. It's very powerful.
At my shows, I like everyone to have a good time... but, I like for us to be real because there's freedom in that.
Actors and singers share common ground in that they both express something.
I am happy that I can challenge myself in various fields.
I get people today who say, 'I first heard about you through the Stevie Wonder commercial.' The power of advertising in that way is incredible.
When you walk in the front of the White House, the pictures on the walls, they change out pretty frequently. They're all very cool and historical, with pictures from the current term and past terms.
Listening to the stories told in jazz music and how those artists expressed their truths about the times and what they were dealing with is what struck me the most.
I loved Lauryn Hill; I loved the Fugees.
I'm a hip-hop fan, and I'm a Southern Cali girl.