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I Wanted My First Film To Be Something Where I Was Surrounded By An Amazing Cast. I Wanted To Do Something That Was Completely Unexpected, Totally Out Of The Box, Something That Would Blow People's Minds, That The Last Thing On The Planet Earth They Would Ever Think I Would Do Would Be It.

-Alicia Keys

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I Wanted My First

Alicia Keys

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I Wanted My First Film To Be Something Where I Was Surrounded By An Amazing Cast. I Wanted To Do Something That Was Completely Unexpected, Totally Out Of The Box, Something That Would Blow People's Minds, That The Last Thing On The Planet Earth They Would Ever Think I Would Do Would Be It.

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I'm A Very Positive Person, But This Whole Concept Of Having To Always Be Nice, Always Smiling, Always Happy, That's Not Real. It Was Like I Was Wearing A Mask. I Was Becoming This Perfectly Chiselled Sculpture, And That Was Bad. That Took A Long Time To Understand.

To Be Able To Help A 13-year-old Kid From The Bronx Follow Her Dreams Just By Letting Her Know She's Not Forgotten In This Crazy World - That's Why I Got Involved With Frum Tha Ground Up.

Even If Your Family Isn't Quite There For You, Find The People That Support You And Hang On To Those People And Try To Let Go Of Those That Try To Take You Down.

I Believe Aids Is The Most Important Issue We Face, Because How We Treat The Poor Is A Reflection Of Who We Are As A People.

Why Give Up Before We Try Feel The Lows Before The Highs Clip Our Wings Before We Fly Away I Can't Say I Came Prepared I'm Suspended In The Air Won't You Come Be In The Sky With Me

Gangsta Rap Was A Ploy To Convince Black People To Kill Each Other. Gangsta Rap Didnt Exist.

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Inspirational Life

Empower Us Women And We Will Change This Whole Entire World.

How You Look Is Your Statement, Because It's A Claiming Of Yourself.

I Feel More Like I'm A Person Who Has So Much To Offer In Different Capacities That It Would Be A Danger For Me Not To Give Myself A Chance To Spread My Wings In All Different Directions.

I Think There's An Energy About Just Remaining Excited. Like, You Can't Be Excited When You're Not Doing Something New.

I Want To Continue To Produce Film, Television, And Theater, And To Make The Most Amazing Music That I've Made In My Life.

Rarely, I Think, Do You Find A Relationship Where You Can Experience Things Equally.

A Good Friend Of Mine Told Me You Should Take A Break And You Should Go See The World. Go Somewhere. That Is When I Chose To Go To Egypt, And So I Took This Beautiful Trip To Egypt. It Was The First Time Ever In My Whole Life I Took Three Weeks Off, And I Sailed Down The Nile And I Saw The Tombs And The Temples, And I Experienced A Place That Was So Magical And So Incredibly Powerful And Intelligent And Inspiring.

I Think Being Really Connected To A Higher Power, Of Having A Spirituality To Me, Has Been Really Good For Me And I Pray All The Time.

Love Will Come Find You, Just To Remind You Of Who You Are.

Meditation Has Been A Big Change For Me In A Super-positive Way. I See The Result And Strength And Clarity - Even My Creativity Is Different And More Connected. It Might Be 10 Minutes A Day; It Might Be 20 Minutes A Day. But Every Day In This Crazy World, It's A Sense Of Peace And Purpose.

Fear Is Not A Part Of My Vocabulary, Actually.

The Energy Of The Crowd Fuels Something New Inside. It Reminds Me To Live In The Moment.

Live In The Moment

The Last Thing I Want Is To Walk Into My House After A Long Day And See All The Grammys And Awards. It Would Make Me Feel Weird.

People Don't Expect Me To Be As Funny As I Am.

You're At Your Most Purest, Most Innocent, Pure State When You're Doing Something You've Never Done Before. You're Scared A Little, You're A Little Vulnerable, You're Kind Of Trying, And Then You're Also Better, Because You're Trying Harder Than You Maybe Would Try.

I Just Wanted To Be Who I Was, Which Was Like So Many Other Girls I Knew. We Grew Up In The City, Had A Hard Edge And Obstacles To Overcome, But We Were Still Young And Beautiful. I Didn't Want To Be All Dressed Up, All Made Up - I Wanted To Be Myself, Which Hadn't Been Done Before.

I Love Children And I Love Family And I Love That Interaction. Because I Had A Really Close Relationship With My Mother, I Understand That Deep Powerful Love, And It's So Beautiful. To Be A Mother To A Child Is The Most Brilliant Gift; It's Gorgeous.

When I'm On Stage, My Interaction With The Audience Is Something That Really Makes Me Come Alive. It's A Feeling Like No Other. The Energy Of The Crowd Fuels Something New Inside. It Reminds Me To Live In The Moment.

Live In The Moment

We Are All One. We're Not As Separate As We Oftentimes Think.

At The End Of The Day, So Many Things That We Hold So Much Value With, It Just Doesn't Even Mean Anything. I Really Try To Stay Focused On Being Really Positive.

The End Of The Day

I Was Just Talking To Bono The Other Day, And He Was Like, "are You Doing Shows?" I've Just Been Off The Road For A Month-and-a-half, And He Was Like, "you Lucky Girl."

I Can Do What I Want To Do, Lucky Me. But When These People Are Coming At Me And Asking These Things, They Don't Really Care About Me. And I Have Felt Like There Were All These People Who Just Wanted To Use Me.

I Don't Think Even When You Find A Person, You Can Be Completely Honest, Ever. There's Still Pieces Of You That You Don't Give Away. I Do Believe You Always Need That Place Where It's Just You, Your Thoughts, No One Else's Judgment Or Anything.

Not Having All The Information Can Make Me Feel Vulnerable.

With Each New Day, I'm Learning How To Take Control In Order To Have Balance In My Life. I Plan Time For Myself And My Loved Ones And Take It.

How Terrible Would It Have Been If I Had Come Out With Some Watered-down Version Of Who I Am? People Fell In Love With The Real Me, And I Still Feel Blessed That That Was How The Journey Began.

And I Love Kick Boxing. It's A Lot Of Fun. It Gives You A Lot Of Confidence When You Can Kick Somebody In The Head.

How Far You Go Depends On What You Want For Yourself, How Much You're Willing To Leave On The Floor, And How Much You Wanna Face The Fears You Have Inside Of You. It's Everything We're All Dealing With Every Day.

Music Is Funny. I Shouldn't Even Ever Talk About Music, Because You Can Have All The Ideas In Your Head, And It Never Goes Exactly The Way That You Think It's Gonna Go.

I Do Feel Like I Owe Something, But Not To The Industry. When You Say "industry," I Think Of A Group Of People Who Don't Really Care Much About You And Treat You As A Commodity. So, In That Regard, I Don't Feel Like I Owe Anything. But The People Who've Always Been Supportive Of Me And Have Always Seen Me For My Greatest Potential-those Are The People Who I Feel Like I Owe Something To. I Feel Like I Am Their Voice. I Owe It Them To Represent Them In A Way That They Can Be Proud Of.

Still When I'm A Mess I Still Put On A Vest With An 's' On My Chest Oh Yes, I'm A Superwoman

I Think We Deserve People Who Really, Really Love Us.

If I Know Everything Around The Situation, All The Facts, I Feel Like I Can Handle Just About Anything.

When I Am Truly Present, I Feel Alive, And I Want Everyone Around Me To Share That Feeling So We Can Make The Most Of That Moment Together.

If Your Family - Just Because They're Blood Doesn't Mean That They Necessarily Give You The Best Advice.

I Was Always Amazed The Way People Would Come In Looking One Way And Transform Completely To The Point Where I Couldn't Recognize Their Language, Their Accent, The Way They Looked, Their Hair, Their Face Even Changed Becoming So Inside Of The Character.

I've Stepped More Into My Womanhood, I'm A Mother Now, I'm Having A Beautiful Relationship As A Wife And As A Friend.

Something I've Learned From People Like U2, The Stones And Lenny Kravitz Is That The Grind Of Live Shows Is So Necessary [to Build Your Career].

I Have This Vintage Harley-davidson Motorcycle Jacket. When I Put It On, It Has This Supercool Feeling To It.

We Listen So Much To Everybody - More Than Ever, Because We Have A Kabillion Voices Whose Opinion We Can Access - And We Care So Much If Everybody Agrees With Us. To Bust Through All Of The Noise Is Very Challenging.

It's Karma, Baby. And It Goes Around.

When I Had Nothing Else, I Had My Mother And The Piano. And You Know What? They Were All I Needed.

When You're Talented, You're Talented.

I Feel Like B Sides Are Always Better, No Matter Whose Record It Is.

I Look Forward To My First Visit To Israel. Music Is A Universal Language That Is Meant To Unify Audiences In Peace And Love, And That Is The Spirit Of Our Show.

A Minor Is One Of My All-time Favorite Keys To Play In. It's A Very Moody Key, And Also 'a' Is The First Letter Of My Name. It Just Represents The Songs Through My Eyes.

You Have To Identify What You Care About And Why You Care About It. It Has To Be Personal. It Has To Be Something That Fires You Up Or Means Something To You, Or It's Not Going To Drive You.

I Was So Deeply Involved In Music, I Had Already Outgrown All The Pressure Of High School Cliques And Gossip.

I Find Myself To Be Truly Primal And Passionate. Everything I Do Comes From A Primal Place.

I See What Happens When One Gets Very Attached To Material Things. That's Just Not What My Life Is.

I Don't Have A Ton Of Friends, But The Friends I Have Are Great Ones. I Don't Have Huge Family, But The Family I Have Is A Great One.

Here's My Pet Peeve: The Not-so-unstated Rule That All Women Are Only To Be Treated As Sexual Objects And Gawked At-you Know, Sitting Up Against A Car, Washing Something, Bending Over, Licking Something. That Just Drives Me Crazy.

What Acting Does Bring That Music Doesn't Bring For Me Is The Opportunity Is The Opportunity To Be Completely Different In Every Way From Whom You Normally Are, The Person That You Are When You Wake Up In The Morning Is Who You Are In Your Life. But To Take That And Have The Opportunity To Be The Complete Opposite Of That, Is The Excitement Of It.

I'm Inspired By Many Of My Friends, Colleagues, And The Extraordinary People I've Been Fortunate Enough To Meet Along The Way.

The Element Of Fire To Me Is Very Powerful Because Of What It Symbolizes, How It Symbolizes A Strength. It Symbolizes Something That's Unstoppable. You Can't Get Through It, You Know.

It's Not Until I Hear Songs That I've Done, That I Realize How Much Of An Inspiration Music From The '60s And '70s Has Been.

Hand Me The World On A Silver Platter, And What Good Would It Be?

I Have Big Everything On The Bottom But I Love My Legs. You've Got To Love What's Yours.

For Me, Doing A Show, The Excitement Of Singing Live, And The Possibility That You're Not Gonna Be Perfect - That's The Thrill Of It.

I Don't Know If We Tell Women Great News About Themselves Enough. You'd Be Surprised How Often A Young Woman Doesn't Hear Positive Things About Herself - Not In Her Home, Not At School. It's Hard To Create A Beautiful Image For Yourself When You've Never Seen It Or Heard It.

I'm So Grateful That I Can Play And That I Can Execute What I Hear In My Head, Because That's The Tricky Part.

I Grew Up In The Theater, My Mother Is An Actress, I Was Always Around The World Of Acting And Theater.

Some People Want It All But I Don't Want Nothing At All If It Ain't You Baby If I Ain't Got You Baby Some People Want Diamond Rings Some Just Want Everything But Everything Means Nothing If I Ain't Got You, Yeah

I Definitely Want To Act, But I Also Want To Score Movies, And I Have This Idea To Fuse Classical Music With Other Styles That Would Give It A Different Perception.

I Grew Up In A Pretty Tough Neighborhood.

All Women Are Naturally, Bad Ass!

I Grew Up In The Middle Of Everything. I Walked The Streets Alone, I Rode The Trains Alone, I Came Home At Three In The Morning Alone; That Was What I Did.

There's Something So Powerful About Being My Own Gorgeous, Beautiful, Individual, Unique Self.

We're All Going To Change. Otherwise, It's Boring.

My Mom Always Said, "don't Date A Guy Who Thinks He's Prettier Than You."

I Dream About Speaking In Big Forums About Issues That Need To Be Spoken About. I Dream About Helping Others Who I Know And Love, Helping Them Realize Their Dreams. I Dream About Being Able To Express Myself Through Acting And Writing, Definitely. I Dream About Bringing More Realism Into The World. Sometimes I Just Feel Like Certain Things Are So Glossed Over And Covered Up And Swept Under The Rug And I Just Want To Bring Them Out.

I've Met Some Serious Aliens In My Life, For Sure. I'm Sure You've Seen A Ufo. Haven't All Of Us Seen Something Flying In The Sky, And It's At Some Random Time Of Night That Doesn't Make Sense, And It's Not The Shape Of A Plane? I Don't Know If I'd Go With An Alien To Space. I Would Have To Feel The Alien's Vibe. I'm A Vibe Person.

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I Find That The Love We Share Fills Me Up And Makes Me See And Appreciate Life In A Different Way.

It's The Unknown That Makes Me Feel The Most Vulnerable.

I Love The Written Word So Much, I Know It's Gonna Flow Naturally.

I've Learned That While I'd Be A Fool Not To Stay Open To The Advice And Experiences Of The Smart, Amazing People In My Life, I Also Need To Listen To What I Have To Say.

Love Me Like You'll Never See Me Again.

Everybody Goes Through Their Life In Different Ways. I Definitely Am Having My Journey. It Evolves And Changes. At Some Moments, I Feel Totally Off Center And Trying To Find My Way Back.

Create The World You Want, And Fill It With The Opportunities That Matter To You.

When I Was Younger, Studying Classical Music, I Really Had To Put In The Time. Three Hours A Day Is Not Even Nice - You Have To Put In Six.

We Have The Potential To Help People Out Of Poverty, Out Of Disease, Out Of Slavery And Out Of Conflict. Too Often We Turn The Other Way Because We Think There's Nothing We Can Do.

I'm Inspired By Artists And Musicians. There Are So Many Wonderful And Talented People In The World. I Love Discovering New Music, New Writers, Or New Art.

My Music Comes From Many, Many, Many Places. My Emotions, My Feelings, My Thoughts, And Conversations I Have With People I Know Who Influence Me.

You Are What You Listen To

When I Did Get Signed And I Was Going Around Letting People Know What I Was About, That's Exactly How I Did It: Me On The Piano, Playing A Couple Of Songs I'd Written And Talking To The People In Between. That's How I Got My Performance Chops Up.

I Love Bono. I Really Respect What He Has Done For Africa And How He Has Used His Fame To Do Good In The World. I Hope I Can Do Half As Much In My Life.

When I Perform In Front Of Large Audiences, I'm Much More Comfortable, Because I've Already Performed In Front Of Tiny Audiences - Which Is Much Harder, Honestly. The Smaller You Strip Things Down, The More You Depend On The Songs And Yourself, As Opposed To Arrangements.

Prayer Keeps Me Centered.

When I Was First Learning Songs, I'd Have A Favorite Song, And I'd Take The Chords And Twist Them Around. I'd Learn The Chords And Then Play Them Backward. That Was My First Experimenting With Writing A Song.

There Are Certain Things We Come Into This World Having To Defeat. And For Me, And I Would Not Be Surprised If A Lot Of Women Feel This Same Way, It's This Thing Of Not Being 100 Percent Comfortable With Myself.

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I'm Very Blessed To Have A Phenomenal Husband, Son, And Beautiful Family And Friends Around Me.

I Think It's The Ego In Us That Screws Us Up.

Musicians Used To Be Way More Instrumental Just In Providing A Soundtrack To What's Going On In The World. And It's Also Important To State What We Think. There's Like This Fear For Their Career, If They Have Anything Intelligent To Say About Politics. And That's Really Messed Up.

I Really Like To Live My Life In A Low-key Fashion.

Wait, I'm Deciding To Be My Own Individual Self. And It Looks Nothing Like What Anyone Else Is Doing.

Cause I Am A Superwoman, Yes I Am, Yes She Is, Even When I'm A Mess, I Still Put On A Vest, With An S On My Chest, Oh Yes, I'm A Superwoman, ... And All My Sisters, Coming Together, Say Yes I Will, Yes I Can

I'd Rather Not Have Anything Than Be A Liar.

If I Can Remain Excited About The Music That I'm Giving You, Then You're Damn Sure Going To Be Excited About It.

I Would Hate To Make Music And People Love Me For Something That Isn't Me.

A Lot Of People, They've Been Saying To Me, Oh Don't Get Married. It Ruins Everything. And I'm Like, Damn.

I'm The Cofounder Of Keep A Child Alive. We Provide Medicine For Families Affected By Hiv And Aids In Places Like Africa And India.

I Think Conveying The Emotion Of The Collective "we" Is Pretty Incredible. Especially In Tumultuous Times Like We Are In Now.

There Is This Fallacy About How Women Are Catty, That We're All In Competition With Each Other. I'd Say: As Opposed To Getting Swept Up In Jealousy, Use That Pang To Give You An Indication Of What You Are Looking For.

I Pray Before Everything. When I Wake Up, Before I Eat, Before I Perform, Before I Go To Sleep, In The Moments I Need Guidance.

I'm Not Ashamed Of What I Am And That I Have Curves And That I'm Thick. I Like My Body.

I Feel The Presence Of A Higher Power. I Believe That What You Give Is What You Get. It's Universal Law. I Believe In The Power Of Prayer And Of Words. I've Learned That When You Predict That Negative Things Will Happen, They Do.

What Breaks My Heart Is Suffering Of Any Kind.

Everything's Gonna Be Alright.

We Believe Frederick Nietzsche Couldn't Have Been More Right When He Said 'without Music, Life Would Be A Mistake.

I Don't Worry Cause, Everything's Gonna Be Alright.

I Wanted My First Film To Be Something Where I Was Surrounded By An Amazing Cast. I Wanted To Do Something That Was Completely Unexpected, Totally Out Of The Box, Something That Would Blow People's Minds, That The Last Thing On The Planet Earth They Would Ever Think I Would Do Would Be It.

If I Want To Be Alone, Some Place I Can Write, I Can Read, I Can Pray, I Can Cry, I Can Do Whatever I Want - I Go To The Bathroom.

You Don't Know What Will Happen From One Minute To The Next.

I Have My Mother Who Is An Irish-italian, And My Father Who Is African, So I Have The Taste Buds Of An Italian And The Spice Of An African.

Falling Down Ain't Falling Down, If You Don't Cry When You Hit The Floor, It's Called The Past Cause I'm Getting Past, And I Ain't Nothing Like I Was Before, You Ought To See Me Now

You Just Can't Take A Day For Granted. We Had To Work Really Hard For Anything, And So That's Been Instilled In Me. And I Don't Look At Myself As Better Than Anybody Else, Because In An Instant Everything Can Change.

I Have Solid Decent People Around Me, And I Believe That Is All It Is, Because You Will Get Destroyed If You Have People Bringing You Down.

I've Met Many Young Women Who Are Hiv Positive And Courageously Fighting The Disease. Their Determination To Live A Full Life And See Their Children Live In A Better World Is Deeply Inspiring To Me.

Most Times, Your Blessings Are Also Your Curses. And For Me, I Have This Ability To Express Myself So Clearly With Pen And Paper, But When It Comes To Expressing Myself Verbally, I Put Up A Big Wall.

I Acted Before I Sang. And I Did The Cosby Show, And Things Like That. But The Music Kind Of Came First. And It Was A Part Of My Essence. So I Knew That I Would Evolve Into This World.

I've Always Expressed Myself Best Through Writing. I've Gotten Out All Of My Deepest Feelings That Way For As Long As I Can Remember.

I Don't Know If I'd Go With An Alien To Space. I Would Have To Feel The Alien's Vibe. I'm A Vibe Person.

I've Seen So Many Lives Turn Around From The Impossible. I Have Come To Embrace The Idea That Even The Simplest Act Of Understanding, Love And Attention Can Produce The Biggest Results.

There's Too Much Darkness In The World. Everywhere You Turn, Someone Is Tryin' To Tear Someone Down In Some Way; Everywhere You Go, There's A Feeling Of Inadequacy, Or A Feeling That You're Not Good Enough. I Want To Bring A Certain Light To The World.

Not Good Enough

Not Because I'm Trying To Be Fabulous, But I Love Those Big Crazy Jackie O Shades.

I Love Being A Mom. And I Think What I Love The Most Is The Way It Makes Me Think About What's Important And What's Not Important. What To Fight For And What To Just Be Cool With. What It Is That I'm Teaching Through Example And What It Is That I Was Taught That I Don't Want To Teach.

When I Really Need It, Talking Is The Best Way To Deal With Emotional Pain.

I Feel Like The Majority Of The Fear That I Had Or That We Have We Hold From Other People. They're Like People That We Trust; They're Their Fears. All Of A Sudden We Think That They're Our Fears.

I've Been Able To Find A Lot Of What I've Not Had Before: Freedom, Bravery, Fearlessness. It's Empowering To Find Those Things.

Stevie Wonder's Records Introduced Me To '70s Soul When I Was 12 Or 13.

A Lot Of Times I Watch Tv And I Watch Film And There's So Many Things I'd Love To Talk About That I Feel Don't Get The Opportunity To Be Shown. Sometimes Things Become Very Stereotypical And One-sided, And I Feel Like It's Such A Colorful World.

If I Didn't Love It, I Would Not Record It.

You've Got To Love What's Yours.

I Like To Do Outdoorsy Things: Hikes, Trails, Running, Swimming. I Love The Sun. I'm All About The Warmth.

I Thought I Had To Be Perfect. I Would Often Make Choices I Thought Would Make Everyone Else Happy. I Lived At A Pace That Was "good For My Career," Whether It Was Good For Me Or Not. I Have Learned How Important It Is To Check In With Myself And Listen, Really Listen.

Listening To Great Music And Art Inspires Me And Recharges Me.

I Think There Was Something About Being In A Tough Environment That Gave Me A Certain Drive.

Early On In My Career, I Was More Closed Off In Every Way. I Thought I Was Protecting Myself; Instead, I Was Robbing Myself Of All I Could Learn And Experience.

Adam Levine And I Remade The Rolling Stones' Classic Wild Horses, And It Is Right Up My Alley, That Whole Style. It Has A Style Of Its Own But Still Stays Very True To The Classic Arrangement, And I Love It.

I'm Very Happy With My Body.

I've Learned That One Of My Greatest Secrets Is Scheduling Downtime Into A Busy Schedule. This Gives Me The Time To Have Quality Moments With My Husband And Son, Who Both Recharge My Spirit In Ways I Never Imagined.

The Climate Of Today Is Not Really Focused As Much As It Was Then On Being Able To Speak About Different Cultural Issues Or Different Situations That Were Going On Politically.

Business Can Change You, And Chew You Up, And Spit You Out, And Be Rid Of You, And On To The Next Thing. That's Why It's So Important To Know Who You Are And Stand Up For Something.

My Mother Is An Actress, And She Used To Drag Me From Theater To Theater And Reading To Reading.

I Grew Up Around The Theatre. My Mother Is An Actress. I Would Fall Asleep On Tons Of Theatre Chairs. It's In My Blood; It's In My Spirit And My Fabric Of Who I Am.

I Lived With My Mom In A Really Small Apartment. My Bedroom Was Like In The Living Room. That's Why I Still Love To Sleep On Couches Now.

Living Will Always Be A Struggle Looking For Someone To Love You.

I Think Following My Instinct Has Proven To Lead Me In The Right Direction, And It's Hard To Hear Sometimes, Because It's A Noisy World And There's A Lot Of People Talking To You.

It's Important For Everyone - Working Moms Especially - To Find Moments To Ground Themselves And Connect With Their Own Breath.

I'm Discovering My Sexual Side, And Exploring Relationships. You Know, Sensual Stuff. And I'm Discovering A Lot Of Sides Of Myself, Stuff I've Buried. So The Music Is Also Therapeutic, To Come To Terms With Things. And I Feel Now Like My Head Is In The Right Space.

My Son Makes Me Super Giddy, Especially When He Laughs. His Laugh Makes Me Laugh Like A Maniac!

I Think I Grew Up Really Fast; I Grew Up In This Really Fast-paced Business, And I Never Understood What It Meant To Take A Break Or Take Time Off Or Recover, And I Paid For It.

What Breaks My Heart Is Suffering Of Any Kind. Too Often, Our World Is Divisive And Cruel Where It Needs To Be Uniting And Loving.

He Broke My Heart, And Now It's Raining, Just To Rub It In.

Quiet Moments Recharge Me.

I'd Rather Believe In My Own Choice And See It All Go Wrong Than Do Something I'm Not Fully Convinced Of And Later Feel Guilty About It.

As A Lyricist, You Love To Hear Other Great Lyrics Or Other Great Concepts.

But When I First Fell In Love With The Piano, I Knew It Was Me. I Was Dying To Play.

Once People See This 'unplugged,' I Just Want Them To Feel The Spontaneity, To Feel Passionate... I Want You To See Another Side Of Me, That's Free, And Feel Where My Head Is, Where Whatever Happens, Happens. I Want You To Feel Inspired.

I'm Definitely A Nerd. I'm A Cool-ass Nerd, But I Am Definitely A Nerd.

Oh My God, The [hip-hop] Videos! The Imagery Is So Awful! I Just Can't Get With It At All. The Best Thing I Can Say About It Is That Sometimes You Have To See That Kind Of Stuff So As To Have A More Balanced View About Why It's So Bad.

I Wouldn't Mind Being In One Place For Two Months Or So. It Really Doesn't Sound So Bad!

Soul Music Is Timeless.

You Could Have All The Riches In The World, But It Doesn't Mean Much Without Family.

Fear Is Not A Part Of My Vocabulary, Actually, And I Think That It's Really Made Me A Much Smarter, Braver For Sure, Person.

You Can Be Very Fulfilled As A Mother, But That Can't Be The Only Way You Are Fulfilled. What About Being A Woman? What About Being Yourself? Your Awareness Of What's Happening In The World? It Lives Altogether In A Way That Makes A Whole. I Guess I'd Say I'm The Wholest I've Ever Been.

Mozart Would Play A Counterpart With His Left Hand While Using His Right To Mock It. It Was Blue, Dark, Shadowy - And It Made Me Feel Something. That's When I Realized Music Was Inside Me.

It's A Beautiful Blessing That I Get To Help Raise A Man. And I Want To Show Him As Much As Possible.

Everything You Want To Be, You Already Are. You're Simply On The Path To Discovering It.

Even When I'm Singing On Record There's A Lot Of Times When I'll Fight For A Bit Of Imperfection. I Might Not Have Quite Hit The Note To The Perfect Pitch, But There Was A Soul In There And Feeling That,to Me, Delivers The Emotion Of That Moment. For Me, Doing A Show, The Excitement Of Singing Live, And The Possibility That You're Not Going To Be Perfect - That's The Thrill Of It.

When I First Started Getting Into The Business, A Young Woman In A Music Game That Was Mostly Men, I Did Feel Inadequate.

I Learned The Cello , But I Would Still Need A Massive Amount Of Practice. But I Do Play Classical Music, So I Understand Where That Comes From.

Every Moment Is Beautiful; Delicious Even! Every Moment I'm Learning And Living In A Way I Never Have Before. Being Present In A Way I Never Have Before. Existing In Moments I Never Have Before.

All Of Us Are Different. That's What Makes Us Interesting And Special. I Don't Want To Be Anything Like Another Person. I Want To Be Totally Myself And Go Against The Grain, Forge My Own Path. I've Learned That Being Different Is What Makes You Stand Out. It Makes Everything So Much More Intriguing.

Being Different

From The Beginning, I've Had To Juggle And Weigh The Silly Things People Say - And I've Learnt That They're Meaningless, And They're Mostly Inaccurate. So I Don't Worry About It, Because There's Nothin' For Me To Deal With.

Many Things Inspire Me. First And Foremost, My Family, My Husband, And Our Son. I Find That The Love We Share Fills Me Up And Makes Me See And Appreciate Life In A Different Way.

When I'm On Stage, My Interaction With The Audience Is Something That Really Makes Me Come Alive. It's A Feeling Like No Other. The Energy Of The Crowd Fuels Something New Inside.

My Mother Was Raised Very, Very Strict Catholic In The Midwest. There Was So Much Fear And Intimidation [in The Faith]. So, Growing Up, I Was Always Looking For My Connection. I've Found Myself Praying Before Meals, Before Bed; There's Always Been This Gratitude For Things That Are Bigger Than Me.

The Desire To Play Has Always Been In Me. I Remember My First Experience At About Four Or Five Of Really Dying To Sing And Dying To Play That Came From No One Telling Me To Do So.

I've Stepped More Into My Business And Really... Taken Control For How I Want That To Be.

Be Driven, Be Focused, But Enjoy Every Moment, Because It Only Happens Once.

I Personally Feel That Acting Is Not Totally Different From Singing And Being A Musician.

Some Of The Greatest Artists Did Their Best Work When They Got Political.

I Believe If You Can Find Something To Give Back To, Your Soul Will Feel Fulfilled In A Very Powerful Way.

My Mixed-race Background Made Me A Broad Person, Able To Relate To Different Cultures. But Any Woman Of Colour, Even A Mixed Colour, Is Seen As Black In America. So That's How I Regard Myself.

The Smaller You Strip Things Down, The More You Depend On The Songs And Yourself, As Opposed To Arrangements.

I'm Having An Unbelievable Time On The Road. I Am Taking The Time To Explore Each New City In A Way I Never Have Before.

I Play Beethoven And Bach. At The Same Time, Biggie Is My Dog.

Risk The Fall To Know How It Feels To Fly.

I Don't Dream - Only If I'm Uncomfortable Or I'm Going Through Something.

The Artists Who Have Inspired Me The Most In My Life Are The Ones Who Have Really Had Something To Say And Stand Up For. That, To Me, Is Part Of Being An Artist-having The Voice To Express Things That Need To Be Verbalized And Brought To Light. Unfortunately, I Don't Think That's A Priority For People, Because The Few Artists Who Do Have The Nerve To Take A Stand For What They Believe Get Shut Down In A Way.

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