Running for office was definitely something I’ve thought about. When I was younger, I wanted to major in political science. And I’ve been engaged in current events since I was a kid. If I can make a difference and feel passionately and capable, then I would. Why not?
If I ran into a 19-year-old version of myself, I’d just tell her to live, full out. I might also tell her to go ahead and have a few babies and not worry about the timing of it.
My mom has always been my champion. She was very smart and grounded. She said, ‘Save your money. Pay your taxes. Don’t put everything in one basket,’ but she let me explore and be creative.
Lets be clear, Dolly Parton is a rapper. Somewhere before all the country, I don’t know what happens up there in the mountains when you’re growing up, but she has been spitting rhymes for a very long time – 50 years I’d say.
I wish every woman would love herself and embrace what she was given naturally.
It was a very vulnerable time going from being insecure about my body and who I am to becoming comfortable with me. I had to tune out what the hell everybody else had to say about who I was. When I was able to do that, I felt free.
I’m not allowed to get a big head, I’ve still got to do the simple things in life.
Those curveballs are always coming-eventually, you learn to hit some of them.
I don’t have any regrets. If I could have talked to my 19- or 20-year-old self, I would have said, ‘You’re going to be fine. It ain’t that serious!’
I’m thinking wanting to succeed is something in my DNA; I’m not like ‘I’ve got to succeed,’ I just don’t think about that. I see a silver lining in everything and I see a lesson in everything.
It’s not always easy to do the right thing. But, doing the right thing makes you strong, it builds character.
I decided early on that I was going to put on my crown and rule my world by acting right and treating myself like a queen.
How many crossroads are you allowed to have in life? I seem to have a lot of crossroads. I think maybe I crossed back across the same road too often.
For myself music definitely informs my emotions. And I can literally play a song that will get me where I need to be emotionally. I don’t have to think about the tragic things that happened in my life or the greatest things that happened in my life.
People say I’m going to be the next Oprah. But I say no, because Oprah is still Oprah. I’ll be the next me. I feel like there’s always a lane for me as long as I’m true to myself.
I don’t care how much money you have, free stuff is always a good thing.
You can huff and puff. But blow me down? I doubt it kid, or you get your ass whupped.
There’s no way I can represent for everyone. I can’t represent for all women or all big women or all black women. It’s important for people not to make celebrities their source of who they should be in life. I can’t take on the pressure of being perfect. Nobody is.
There were musicians that influenced me, but they weren’t all women. Teena Marie was a big influence because she wrote and produced her own music, which let me know that women could write and produce their own music, which was an empowering moment for me.
I’m the daughter of a sister whose the mother of a brother who’s the brother of another.