At the end of the day, l just want to be myself. I don't set out to be like anyone else.
Music is a lot more powerful than anyone gives it credit for. I can sing something right now and make you feel something that you would not feel if I said it. If somebody can sing and connect to people just through voice, just through sonics, capturing an emotion, that's a direct string to somebody's soul.
I don't want to, in the last three minutes of my life, know that I lived it for somebody else.
I got to meet Kanye West because we were shopping my artist deal, and I was interested in his label. When I met him, I played him all the records I had. He introduced me to Rihanna, and she recorded and cut some of those records.
I can deal with imperfection, but I can't deal with people who lie to themselves and lie to the world to make the world feel better.
I fell in love with singing, and through singing, I learned how to write songs. Anything you're consistent with and that you do all the time, you're gonna reap benefits off it at one point. You're not gonna get worse!
I can still feel unsure in myself, and l'm still insecure about certain things, but my desire to be happy and my desire to be free is very strong.
My songs are always on the tip of my tongue. It's always bubbling and brewing and about to come out. I can't really put it into words, but the best way to explain it is feeling like you constantly have some things on the tip of your tongue.
True hopefulness and optimism is what leads one to dare. It is also what lifts one back up to dare again after a failed attempt.
All of my songwriting success happened within a four month time span, and my record label deal happened within the next three months.
To the outside world, I was pretty bad at everything my whole life. People didn't credit me for my musicianship.
The music industry is hard work, especially for women. A lot of people pit us against each other, comparing two body types or two women that are completely different. It's a lot of pressure.
I started writing songs before I could talk - at three or four. It was in me, and I had to get it out. It was all freestyle, which is how I write anyway. I don't write the words down; I scat and come up with the melody, then the lyrics.
My talent before singing is being able to interpret and understand my emotions. I've felt pain and felt it intensely, so every time I sing, I revisit it.
A writer is an artist. They're creating things out of thin air.
What people think of you doesn't matter, because I believe anything's possible. No one's going to convince me I'm not capable of living up to my full potential, because I've obsessed over that idea. The universe wants me to be great for me.
A lot of senior artists say that they support women, but they have a machine of people behind them telling them to be that way. l don't think it's always true and genuine.
School, for me, was a really, genuinely hard thing. It was hard because l am an artist. You can't send an artist to a place where we learn at a mad slow pace sitting in a class.
People who are their own entity and aren't afraid to be who they are can move a nation. I believe the height of my career is going to be during the start of a revolution.
My music comes from heartbreak - from feeling what it's like to lose everything and not being able to express it through words because it doesn't make sense.
