Tell me I can't so I can show you I CAN!

Know the business you're in for whatever you do, know it and understand how it works so you can be successful.

Just be open, life is about a constant journey and I'm very spiritual, but I'm also in touch with what's going on around me and who I am, and you have to know yourself. So for me, that's what keeps me going is just being interactive.

It takes a while to really love yourself...

I'm just happy that I'm able to take care of what I need to take care of, live, and do the thing that I love the most and that is to sing. People want to hear it, buy it, see it, hold it, record it, bootleg it. It's fine with me as long as it's good but when it's bad I'm in trouble!

I've had great people come in my life, meaning not just men, but women, support me and empower me. So that has lifted me to be the woman I am.

When you don't know how beautiful you are, you will always be in search of happiness.

There's always a story in music, and it's expressed through my music.

I love opera so much. I would never go back to doing it, but I love to listen - I'm grateful for it. I studied diction, breathing control, phrasing, why the song means something. You want to bring that across to your listeners.

There ain't a wrong time or a wrong place to flaunt. If you feel good, then go on and show it off!

I would just listen to the complaints about what I do instead of celebrating what I do, and that I'm different and in my own lane. It took a while for me to just ignore the doubts.

I'm not competing with anyone, or begging someone to love me. I feel like I'm loved and I deserve to be where I am.

If love found me it can surely find you. I ain't even got one sad tear left in me.

So in every sense, from an independent artist to a major label artist, you just have to have great product, great faith and great people, they all go together.