“I’m from a small town where everybody always has something to say – you shouldn’t sing secular music, you shouldn’t do this or do that. A ton of “shouldn’ts.””

I try not to date musicians. It’s all I’ve dated. Every guy I’ve dated is a musician. Obviously, it’s not working.

It’s ignorant to think you know everything about a person. There’s many different sides to everybodys personality and there’s just different colours to a personality.

I sing songs that I have lived or I write them because I have lived them. I think the believability factor is key.

I may not be Einstein but I know dumb plus dumb equals you.

I’m so happy now. I love that I’m in a relationship right now… I want a life… The past five years or so I’ve found my groove and my balance.

The hardest thing about being in this business is just being able to be yourself. People act like there’s this one set of rules to follow to be a pop star and I think, ‘Well, you say I’m a pop star, so maybe that’s not true.’

I’ve never been more nervous in my life than singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

Life’s too short to be a pushover.

Really, what I try to instill in my fans is to be healthy and happy. I have no desire to be super-skinny.

If I can wake up everyday before I die and know that I don’t have to serve anyone food or drinks, I will be happy!

My mom and I are like sisters. We kind of grew up together. She always treated me as an adult. I never had curfew. She’s a workaholic, like I am. We’re not super family-oriented people, you know?

I live on a ranch in Texas and do my own thing. And I don’t care what anyone has to say about it. My joke is that the only people I’m trying to please are myself and my fans, because they’re the ones buying my records. And I have the best, most loyal fan base ever.

I’m cute – and God I hate that. Because that’s not cool. I’m like your niece, and nobody wants to date their niece. It’s the chubby cheeks. The whole reason people voted for me on American Idol is because I’m an everyday, normal girl.

And more so now, since having a family – I don’t seek out any other acceptance.

People are really concerned about my relationship status. When I tell people I’m happy being single, they don’t believe me. They say: ‘You have to be miserable being alone’.

I was a poor kid, and my mom was a single mother of three.

I listen to a lot of the people that use Auto-tune.

I was raised in a Catholic school, and I would always go to church on Sunday, and I would hear the same music over and over and over and over again, same gospels, hymns, everything.

I am just fascinated by music and I want to know how to identify all the things I love about it; to me music theory is like learning another language and then being able to explain how much you love something more clearly.

Music changed my life in so many ways.

I’m not a fan of anybody music who I feel like a sucka. I don’t listen to you. They play you in the club, you can have the #1 jam, but if I know your character, how can I listen to your music?

I couldn’t help but feel very different from everybody, so I think that’s why I found such a big world in music, and that’s why I kind of – I was an introvert as a kid, but I loved the piano, and that’s where I felt at home.

The opening chords of our rhapsody, lulled me into a state of bliss, as the glistening sunrise in your eyes, intoxicated my soul, drew me in.

I’ve always wanted to make that change from a rapper into an artist.